Full text of "The slaveholder abroad; or, Billy Buck's visit, with his master, to England. A series of letters from Dr. Pleasant Jones [pseud.] to Major Joseph Jones, of Georgia"

See other formats

Ctltntnt af

ELIA SMITH- -ELBEHT »88

Jlit ilWuutmu

]sr?

KATBARIBI 2. CQMAH

THE

Slaveholder Abroad;

OK,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT, WITH HIS- MASTER, TO ENGLAND.

nit* d jfottm

FROM

DR. PLEASANT JONES TO MAJOR JOSEPH JONES,

OF GEORGIA.

"WITH WHAT MEASURE YE METE, IT SHALL BE MEASURED TO YOU AGAIN."

J. B .

PHILADELPHIA:
LIPPINCOTT &
18C0.

CO.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18rH). by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Kastern District
of Pennsylvania.

AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT

TO
OF

COLONEL JOSEPH BOND,

•WHO,

BEING ONE OF THE LARGEST SLAVEHOLDERS IN GEORGIA,

AND

AMONG HER MOST WORTHY AND SUCCESSFUL PLANTERS,
YET HAZARDED AND LOST HIS LIFE
IN THE PROTECTION OF HIS SLAVE,

ONE WHO WAS TO HIM PERSONALLY A STRANGER,

2TMs aSoofc fs ^eMcatefc.

(iii)

PREFACE.

The author of the following letters wishes it to be dis-
tinctly apprehended by the reader, that, as regards the
personality of Dr. Jones and his servant, or their per-
sonal adventures and experience, as related in the follow-
ing pages, he does not desire it to be understood or be-
lieved that he sets up any pretensions to the accuracy
of narrative. He acknowledges that he has used these
only as a stock upon which to engraft some fruit-bearing
facts; and that he has assumed to himself a license in
these particulars, in order that he might render the
statements of fact which he has made, more attractive
to general readers.

Let it be understood, then, once for all, that it is no
part of the author's design that any credit should be
given to the class of circumstances specified, as influ-
encing the conclusions which he is anxious to have derived
from the matter contained in these letters ; and that
(with one exception, which will be presently mentioned)
the only statements which may be thought to affect the
character of individuals, or of the British people, that he
1 * ( v )

PREFACE.

would liave received as credible evidence, are such as lie
has taken from some report made by authority, which,
for the purposes he has in view, must be regarded as
reliable : viz., an English book, periodical, or newspaper.
The statements as to salaries, pensions, etc., of English
officials, in the last letter but one, must be referred to as
an exception. But these are facts which are so notorious,
and which may be so easily verified by reference to the
items of the English Civil List, that it was deemed un-
necessary to be more particular. I will add that the
author has indeed endeavored to give his authority for
all the material facts stated (excepting those which have
been referred to), both in the body of the work and in
the Appendix.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY LETTER.
From Dr. Pleasant Jones to William T. Thompson, Esq 13

LETTER I.

Arrival in London — Buck visits the Crystal Palace — His description of it 23

LETTER n.

Dr. Jones visits and describes the Great Exhibition 26

LETTER III.

Buck's greeting of the Queen and Royal Family — Interview with an English Gentleman
— Conversation a.s to Slavery 32

LETTER IV.

Anecdote of Dr. Jackson and the Georgian in London, whose Indians wouldn't show —
Dr. Jones's Plough a failure in England, because he did not carry his Roots with him
— A Frenchman's opinion of America — Anecdote of Captain Black — The Doctor con-
soles himself for his failure with a Scrap from the Tragedy of " Tom Thumb." 37

LETTER V.

Dr. Jones and his Man visit A Hall, in Yorkshire 41

LETTER VI.

Dr. Jones and his Servant join a Fox-hunt — Buck distinguishes himself on the Field —
Is in at the Deacn, and wins the Tail — Visit to C. Park — Recipe for cooking " Possum

and Pumpkin " — Buck's Story of Uncle Cudjo and the Possum 64

(vii)

viii

CONTENTS.

LETTER VII.

British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and Mrs. Stowe — Speeches at the meeting of
this Society, hy Prof. Stowe, and Rev. S. Ward (a Negro), and Comments of Buck there-
upon— Buck amuses himself with a part of the Audience 62

LETTER VIII.

Social Profligacy of the British People — St. Albans Election — St. Albans Bribery Com-
mission 71

LETTER IX.

Proceedings of the Bribery Commission for St. Albans continued — Controverted Elections
in 1852. S3

LETTER X.

Buck attends the Southampton Election — His Report of it — His Story of his Grandfather
and his old Master— Endeavors to comfort an emancipated Slave 92

LETTER XI.

Specimens of various Election Bribery Commissions 101

LETTER XII.

Passion of the English People for Betting and Horse-racing— Queen's Visits to the Race-
field — Queen's Plates — Doncaster Races — The Marquis of Exeter's, and Duke of Graf
ton's '• Winnings ".. L10

LETTER XIII.

Passion of the English People for Retting and Horse-racing — The House of Commons
adjourns for t lie Derby Day — Races at Goodwood, and at Epsom — Extraordinary Wa-
gers—Mr. Cobden plays the part of Wilkins Flasher, Esq.. and Gen. Hrotherton emu-
lates that of Mr. Frank Simmery — Trial of a celebrated Turf-man for Forgery — Suicides
by Patrons of the Turf 120

LETTER XIV.

Want of Education among the Masses in this Country — The state of Crime in the United
Kingdom — Number of Offences committed by Women and Children — Numbers of
Woman of the Town, and Illegitimate Children 146

LETTER XV.

BoetaJ Profligacy continued — Court of Exchequer — Tees vs. Avis — Extraordinary In-
stance of Profligacy and Depraved Taste — Mahomet Abraham (a Black Beggar) and
l. \z\ ; a horrible piece of London Romance— Profligacy in London loO

CONTENTS. iX

LETTER XVI.

Social Profligacy in Liverpool, and Manchester, and their Vicinity— Annual Report of the
Chaplain of Kirkdale Jail 159

LETTER XVII.

Social Profligacy — Abandonment of an Infant by its Mother— Horrible Depravity— Social
Profligacy in Scotland 163

LETTER X.VIII.

Social Profligacy — The late Lord Portarlington and Mrs. Dawson — Mormonism in the
United Kingdom— The Agapemone, or Abode of Love 170

LETTER XIX.

Juvenile Depravity in this Country — Murder by a Boy of Thirteen of another Eleven
Years and a half old— Charge of Swindling against a little Girl, Thirteen Years of age
— Singular Delinquency of a Boy — Charge of Stealing against a Boy aged Ten, an
old Offender — A Youthful and Aristocratic Highwayman — A Candidate for Transporta-
tion, aged Fourteen — Murder by a Boy less than Ten Years old — A Youth left for Exe-
cution 178

LETTER XX.

Brutality and Cruelty of the British People— A High Sheriff iu Difficulty, or a Hangman
wanted— The Chelmsford Executions 193

LETTER XXI.

Murder at Belper, in Derbyshire— Proceedings at the Inquest 202

LETTER XXII.

Dreadful Murder at Frome, Somerset — Violation and Murder — Shocking Murder near
Lincoln— A Brother Killed by his Sister— Supposed Murder at Barnsley— Poisoning—
A Woman's Head cut off by her Son 207

LETTER XXIII.

Alleged Murder of a Gentleman by his Housekeeper 217

LETTER XXIV.

Murder on the Highway in Essex— Inquest on the Body— Confession of the Murderer-
Dreadful Murder in Devonshire— Atrocious Murder at Wakefield 226

CONTENTS.

LETTER XXV.

Ill-treatment and Murder of Wives — Suspected Murder of a Wife by Starvation — The
Bath Starvation Case — Murder of a Wife in Marylebone — The Proceedings before the
Committing Magistrate are attended by Dr. Jones and his Servant — A Witness who
knew nothiug of God, and had never heard of the Devil — Buck proposes to send a
Missionary to this Witness' Neighborhood — Trial of the Murderer before the Central
Criminal Court 234

LETTER XXVI.

Murder of a Woman by her Husband in the City of Oxford — Attempted Murder of a
Wife, and Suicide of Husband, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne — Horrible Murder of a Wife by
the Husband in the City of London — Execution of the Murderer, and remarkable
Declaration made by him — Death of a Wife from brutal Ill-treatment — Brutal Murder
of a Wife 249

LETTER XXVII.

Murder of a Wife, and attempted Suicide of the Husband — Buck's Indignation thereat,
and Criticisms thereon 263

LETTER XXVIII.

Murder of their Husbands by Maria Cage, and Sarah Chesham — Fortune-telling and
Poisoning — A Wife Poisons her Husband in Sussex — Dr. Jones and Buck atteud the
Trial, and find that Sauce for the English Goose is not always Sauce for the
Gander 207

LETTER XXIX.

Brutal Treatment of their wives by Englishmen— Malicious Stabbing of a Wife — Savage
and Inhuman Conduct to a Wife by her Husband — Attempted Murder of a Wife, and
attempted Suicide of the Husband — Ill-treatment of a Wife, and her refusal to Prose-
cute— Wife-beating, and Wife refusing to Prosecute — Threatening to Murder a
Wife 276

LETTER XXX.

Barbarous and shocking Ill-treatment of Women in England — New Christmas Sports,
where the NOSM of Women, only, get smashed, and their Eyes knocked out — Atrocious
Outrage upon a Woman — A young Girl Outraged— A Woman Shot by her Lover— Buck
finds the difficulty of understanding "the ways" of Englishmen increasing— A Lon-
don Magistrate certifies to the chivalric treatment of Women by Americans 285

LETTER XXXI.

Bill passed by Parliament for the bi'»ter Protection of Women and Children— Lord Gran-
ville's Jest upon the subject — The \.\ hite Slave in England — lllustrationsof Karl Gran-
ville's Jest — Price of Insulting and Assaulting a Lady — A Pugilist brutally Beats
several young Women— Savage Assault upon a Woman— Attempt to Strangle a Woman
— An Editor discourses ou Cruelty to Women 294

CONTENTS.

LETTER XXXII.

Cruel Treatment of Children in this Country — Charge of administering Gin to ■ Child
of Seven Years — Mysterious Murder of a Boy near Plymouth — A Woman throws her
Son. aged Six Years, from a third-floor Window — Buck's History of this Transaction —
He is .-olieited to leave his Master — Refuses, and sets forth some of the Advantages of
Slavery in Georgia over Poverty in England 306

LETTER XXXIII.

Two Children Murdered by their Father at Camberwell — Murder of a Child by its Mo-
ther, and Death of the latter — Horrible Murder of two Children by their Mother at
Loughrea — Murder of an Infant by its Step-father — Ill-treatment of a Child by its
Father (a Clergyman) and his Sister, resulting in its Death — Murder of an Infant in
the Neighborhood of the Bagnigge-wells Road — Buck Discourses on that Text 317

LETTER XXIV.

Charge against a Farmer, of Murder, by throwing a Child to be devoured by a Sow —
Cruelty to a Child three years old — Murder of a Child — Fatal Cruelty to a Child, by
Burning it in the Hand with a Live Coal — Murder of Children for Burial-fees — Murder
of a Child by Starvation, and Ill-treatment by Father and Step-mother — Cruel Treat-

ment of a Child by its Mother— Child-torture, by way of Christmas Sports 325

LETTER XXXV.

Cruel Treatment of Servants by the English People — Charge of atrocious Cruelty to a
Servant by Mr. and Mrs. Sloane 3C8

LETTER XXXVI.

Cruelty to a u Small Servant;" or, the M Marchioness" duplicated — Quere : Have Samp-
son and Sally Brass transferred their Abode to Great Carter Lane, Doctors Commons?
— Buck attends an Investigation, in which it is suggested that Mr. Richard Swiveller
may have been interested— He (Buck) Discourses with a benevolent Englishman upon
the Advantages of the relation of Master and Slave in Georgia over that of Master

and Servant in England 348

LETTER XXXVII.

Murder of a Servant by her Master, at Thrandeston— Assault by a Military Officer on his
Female Servant — A First-class Hand in a First-rate Milliner's 359

LETTER XXXVII I.

Cruel Treatment of Lunatics, etc., and of Prisoners, by the British People — Death at
Peckham Lunatic Asylum — A Witness against Bethlehem Lunatic Hospital — Dreadful
Abuses in that Hospital, and Brutal Treatment of Lunatics there — Similar Conduct ut
Dunston Asylum — The Birmingham Jail Disclosures — Alleged Ill-treatment of the
Poor in a Workhouse 3G9

CONTENTS.

LETTER XXXIX.

"What is the Social Happiness of the British People?— The Paupers and the Beggars help
to furnish an Answer 384

LETTER XL.

The Inquiry into the happiness of the British People, as a Nation, continued — Stealing
caused by distress — Increase of Vagrancy in the Metropolis — Street Begging — The
Leicester Square Soup kitchen and Hospice — The very Poor of the Metropolis— Deaths
from Starvation — The hungry Children in the Ragged Schools — Pauperism and Va-
grancy— More of the Leicester Square Soup-kitchen — Children Dying for want of
Breast-milk — Another Death from Starvation — The common Lodging-houses in St.
Giles — Attempt of two Maiden Ladies to commit Suicide by Starvation, on account of
their Destitution 391

LETTER XLI.

Distress and Destitution in the Agricultural Districts of England — Adventure of Dr.
Jones and his Servant on the lload from London to Gravesend; in which Buck emu-
lates the Character of the Good Samaritan 407

LETTER XLIT.

Buck witnesses a Meeting between St. James, and St. Giles, in which the latter, as usual,
is made to take the Kennel — Extent of Destitution in the Metropolis and its Vicinity
— Death from starvation, and shocking Destitution — Another Death from Destitution

— Distressing Picture of Degradation and Destitution 413

LETTER XLIII.

Unhappy Mental and Moral Condition of a large Proportion of the British People, as
shown by various Facts, especially by the number of Lunatics and Insane Persons,
and of Suicides 423

LETTER XLIV.

Causes of the Suffering among the British People considered, in a Conversation between
Dr. Jones and an English Nobleman 441

LETTER XLV.

Continuation of the Conversation between Dr. Jones and an English Nobleman — "Let
us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter." 4i>'-i

Api'esdix 466

THE

SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD.

INTKODUCTOKY LETTER.

FROM DR. PLEASANT JONES TO WILLIAM T. THOMPSON, ESQ.

Cotton Cot (near Pinevillc), May 1st, 1859.

Dear Mr. Thompson: — I yield to your suggestion,
and consent that my letters from England to Major
Joseph Jones shall be published. I do so, relying very
much upon your judgment; for I am not conscious that
I possess any special gift in the book-making line. In-
deed, I had supposed that there was enough of that sort
of thing in the family when my cousin, the Major, took
to the business. Not that I wish to be understood as-
in tending to utter a word in disparagement of the Major's
books, Mr. Thompson ; for I must confess that they have
exhibited one of the most satisfactory tests of success —
they have put, and are continuing to put, money into the
pockets of their publishers. It cannot be denied, there-
fore, that there is something more of interest about the
Major's literature than the grotesque infelicities of its
orthography and syntax, hideously fascinating as these
sometimes are. This feature, however, was intended,
I suppose, only as a sort of bush to the wine that was
within. Mr. Titmarsh Thackeray, nearly about the same
time, I believe, was finding a similar expedient quite suc-
cessful in attracting attention to the entertainments of
the admirable Mr. Charles Edward Fitzroy Yellowplush.
2 (13)

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

Still, I could not but feel that possibly there was some
luck in the Major's success, and that, proceeding upon
a calculation of the doctrine of chances, Fortune may
have exhausted her favors in this line for the family.
You seem to think otherwise. I am persuaded to submit,
therefore, and so I consent to the publication of such of
my letters as may be selected for that purpose. Some
explanation, as to the how and wherefore of their being
written, should precede them, I think ; and this I will
proceed to give.

I have had no higher ambition during my life, as you
know, than to be a successful planter. It is true that,
after coming to man's estate, I studied medicine, took
a course of lectures, and graduated as M. D. But I pre-
ferred the occupation of a planter to the practice of my
profession ; and, marrying early in life the girl of my
heart, I settled down upon my little patrimony, near
Pineville, and devoted myself to agriculture. In this
pursuit I have thriven as well as could be expected, and
have cause to be very grateful. Several promising chil-
dren have been born to us, all but one of whom tarried
but a little while, when a Hand came out of the darkness
and hurried them away. After some years, constant
occupation, cares, and the loss of these little ones, so
tried my health as very much to impair it. As it was
with poor old Tobit in the times of the Apocrypha, and
- as it has been with thousands since, in all ages of the
world, " I went to the physicians, but they helped me
not." They advised me, however, to travel — to try a
trip to Europe. The World's Fair, then in contempla-
tion, and in process of preparation in London, was excit-
ing an interest even among our piney-woods. I had just
invented a new plough, having an attachment for cutting
roots, which I thought merited a premium ; and, as I had
acquired a taste for premiums and silver cups at our own
State Fair, through the aid of some fat calves and fatter
pigs, I yielded to these suggestions, and determined to
visit Europe for the benefit of my health and the grati-
fication of bringing back with me a gold medal for a
prize plough.

What to do for some one to go along with, and take

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

care of me, in case of increasing illness, was my greatest
difficulty. Circumstances made it impossible for my wife
to leave home. My cousins, and your old friends, Maj.
Joseph Jones and Dr. Peter, were both in the same situ-
ation. The former, indeed, said that nothing would
please him better than to go abroad, and perhaps write
a book about what he saw there : u but it was impossible ;
for at the first mention of the thing, dear Mary had
taken on so, as almost to break her heart — she had
been always so afraid of the sea, since the President
wasn't heard of." Now the truth was, as I afterwards
learned, that to this appeal, after the manner of the
melting mood, "dear Mary" added more decidedly, that
" it wasn't just to her, for him to go trapesing off to
England, and leaving her with a house full of children,
to take care of; to say nothing of the everlasting little
negroes, and that he couldn't do it with her consent — that
was flat." And so she put her foot down upon it, and it
was flat.

This difficulty presented a serious obstacle for a time,
but was finally overcome by the suggestion of my wife,
that I had better take Buck (my most trusted and
efficient servant) with me. M The truth is," said she,
" that next to myself and Sally [Buck's wife] " I had
rather trust you in his hands, than in those of any one
else." I thought the idea a good one, especially as Buck
knew better than any one else how to operate my plough,
how to give it that sort of a twisting jerk — a wire-dire
he called it — which best served to snap the roots asunder.
It was therefore arranged that Buck and I should voyage
together.

After resolution formed, our preparations were soon
made, and we embarked for England, from the port of
New York, in the summer of the year 1851. As the ser-
vant, who accompanied me, figures frequently in the
letters, whose publication you recommend, I will tell you
something more about him. His true name is Wil-
liam; but in upper Georgia, for some reason which I
never understood, William is frequently changed into the
soubriquet, Buck. It is by this convenient monosyllable
my servant is generally called. He is my confidential

16 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

servant — a negro of the negroes — born my father's
property : his father and grandfather before him having
been owned by the family. He is slightly older than
myself, but was my playmate in childhood; when he
was almost indispensable to my happiness — though he
occasionally administered a threshing to me. On one
of these occasions I informed my father of it. He in-
quired into the circumstances, found that I had been
to blame in the quarrel, and decided, that it was wrong
in Buck to strike me, and he must not do it again ; but
that I had deserved all that I had got. After that, when I
caught it too heavily from him, I made reporl^only to his
mother, "Aunt Becky who occasionally gave him
" brinjer," as she called it, when he was too hard on me.
But the luxury of licking me he reserved to himself
alone among the boys. If any others undertook the
same thing, he pitched into them without delay. He
has been always sincerely attached to me, I believe, and
to my family. And for the matter of that, his regard is
reciprocated. He has been loved by my little ones, too ;
has guarded and protected them, and has wept over their
beds of death. Thoroughly identified with my interests,
he has felt himself about as much the proprietor of me
and my estate as I was of him. In fact, neither he nor
any others of my slaves seem to feel that I have any ex-
clusive right to what property I possess ; for they speak
of it only as " ours ;" as, indeed, it is, for most of the
substantial comforts of life. I wish, truly, that they
could share its cares and responsibilities with me some-
times, and shift the burthen of some of their own crea-
tion from my shoulders to theirs. Buck is decidedly
" smart," as we say in Georgia, and, for a negro, has
not a little vanity; and, though not brought up regularly
to house-work, he is very handy. Like most of his race,
he is amiable and cheerful, and has an unusual talent
for drollery and practical fun — perhaps by habit acquir-
ing some of that from his master's family, and Georgians
generally. He speaks our language as well as many
whiles, except when ho chooses to do otherwise. When
possessed of some droll conceit, or desirous of making
some u divarsion," as he calls it, he frequently resorts to a

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

sort of African patois, or broken speech, which he has
acquired from some of the old negroes with whom he
associated in his earlier years — all of whom have now
departed, I believe, except his grandmother, Mom. Dinah,
now nearly a hundred years old, and for more than
thirty years the superannuated slave of my father and
myself. Buck is sometimes quite amusing in this imi-
tation— an instance of which, and of his drollery, oc-
curred in a scene on board our steamer after we had been
several days at sea.

Among the passengers, there was a Quaker gentleman,
a member of the Society of Friends in England, an ardent
abolitionist and anti-slavery man. By the time referred
to, I had become acquainted with many of my fellow-
passengers, and with this gentleman among others.
Buck had been at first quite sick ; and, as I was a some-
what better sailor, I looked after his comfort as well as
I could until he grew better. When rougher weather
came, and I went down in my turn, he was in condition
to serve me, which he did with his usual faithfulness.
These things, and the relations between us, had been
observed by the Quaker; and one day, when we were
enjoying the fine weather on deck, he said to me, " I per-
ceive, Doctor, that thou art attended and served by one
who calls thee master. Is he thy slave ?"

I replied that he was.

Quaker. "Art thou not afraid to take him with thee to
England? Thou knowest that the law forbids slavery
in that country ; and that when he lands on British soil
he ceases to be thy slave."

Myself. UI know, sir, that such is the theory of the
thing ; but I know, at the s&me time, that it will not
prove to be true in point of fact."

Quaker. (With an expression of much surprise.) " How
so, friend? I do not understand thee."

Myself. 11 Perhaps I may say I mean generally that the-
oretical freedom and slavery, and practical freedom and
slavery, by the laws of Great Britain, are very different
things. But what I mean now specially to say is, that
if my man be left free to choose and act whilst we are in
England, all the laws in the kingdom cannot break those
2* B

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

ties of affection, of thought, of habit, of nature, by which
he is bound to me ; and therefore cannot sever the re-
lations which exist between us, nor prevent his clinging
with unyielding tenacity to those relations. Of course,
if he is not left free to choose, he will, to that extent, be
enslaved by those who coerce him ; and there fact and
theory will certainly clash."

Quaker. "That, Doctor, is a view of the case which has
not presented itself to me before.- Thy servant seems
much attached to thee : more than usually so, I suppose."

Myself. " He is attached to me, certainly, and I to him.
But so it is, though in a less degree, with my slaves
generally. And I and my slaves are not exceptions to a
rule. I think I may say the same thing of most of my
neighbors. But there is my man. Suppose you talk
with him on the subject. You may say what you please
to him, and when you please, without offence to me. He
is called Buck."

Buck, who had been loitering near, and heard some
portions of the conversation, I suppose, was addressed
by the Quaker, and told to approach more closely.

Quaker. 11 1 understand thou art named Buck."

Buck. (Taking off his hat, bowing, and scraping his
right foot backwards, two feet.) " Billy Buck, massa —
sem time, for short, da calls me Buck."

Quaker. 11 Billy Buck, I understand thou art a slave,
and thy master tells me that thou desirest not to be free,
but art content to remain in slavery."

Buck. " Me slave, massa ? I sprise at my massa ! He
know belly well, he been work heself 'mos to def at home
for he nigger, an da bleege to sen him way wid me to
save he life. He de slave — me de gemmon what keeps
care of him. Dat trute, massa."

" Come, come, Buck," said I, amid roars of laughter
on the part of the bystanders, " Come, come, Buck, have
done with your fun. This gentleman desires to under-
stand from you something about the way our slaves are
treated, and their situation and feelings. Bo serious ;
answer his questions, and tell him what you know, antt
conceal nothing."

Thereupon Buck at once changed what there was of

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

the ludicrous in his face and attitude, and said, simply and
distinctly, "As well as I can, marster." A conversation
ensued, with which I will not trouble you, Mr. Thomp-
son— only adding, that it seemed greatly to impress the
Quaker and some others present, and to give them views
of slavery, which' they had never dreamed of before.

From what I have said, you may perceive that I had
a travelling companion, who was a cause of no little
amusement to me whilst in Europe ; and who was him-
self not unfrequently a source of interest and curiosity
to others — sometimes to my annoyance j but never did
I have any trouble with him, from the cause suggested
by the good Quaker.

My first intention was to remain in England until the
close of the Great Exhibition, when I proposed to make
a short visit to the Continent, and then return home.
But when that period arrived I was advised to remain
longer where I was ; and thus my stay in Europe was
indefinitely prolonged. My first letters, you will see,
relate chiefly to my private affairs, and to such casual
observation and personal experience as I thought might
interest my family and friends. But during the year
1852 Mrs. Stowe's book, " Uncle Tom's Cabin," was pub-
lished, and it created a great sensation in England. It
was soon in the hands, heads, and mouths of all classes ;
and I, being from a Slave State, a slaveholder, and hav-
ing a black slave as my constant attendant, was continu-
ally made the centre of a little .circle of excitement and
discussion on the subject of slavery. In these conversa-
tions, the various features of our social polity in the
Slave States of North America were frequently talked
of, with me, or in my presence. This naturally excited
my attention, and pointed it in the direction of the con-
trasted features of the social economy among that people
with whom I was sojourning, and set my sharpened facul-
ties to the task of ascertaining in some degree what these
accurately were. In a short time, and engendered by
the excitement which Mrs. Stowe's book had created,
appeared the following appeal by the« Stafford House
ladies, (as they were called,) at the head of whom was
the Duchess of Sutherland, to the women of America : —

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

" The Affectionate and Christian Address of many thousands of
the Women of England to their Sisters, the Women of the
United States of America.

A common origin, a common faith, and, we sincerely believe,
a common cause, urge us, at the present moment, to address
you on the subject of that system of negro-slavery which still
prevails so extensively, and, even under kindly-disposed masters,
with such frightful results, in many of the vast regions of the
Western World.

We will not dwell on the ordinary topics — on the progress
of civilisation, on the advance of freedom everywhere, on the
rights and requirements of the nineteenth century — but we
appeal to you very seriously to reflect, and to ask counsel of
God, how far such a state of things is in accordance with His
holy word, the inalienable rights of immortal souls, and the
pure and merciful spirit of the Christian religion.

We do not shut our eyes to the difficulties, nay, the dangers
that might beset the immediate abolition of that long-established
system ; we see and admit the necessity of preparation for so
great an event : but, in speaking of indispensable prelimina-
ries, we cannot be silent on those laws of your country which,
in direct contravention of God's own law, ' instituted in the
time of man's innocencv,' deny, in effect, to the slave the
sanctity of marriage, with all its joys, rights, and obligations;
which separate, at the will of the master, the wife from the
husband, and the children from the parents. Nor can we be
silent on that awful system which, either by statute or by cus-
tom, interdicts to any race of man, or any portion of the
human family, education in the truths of the Gospel and the
ordinances of Christianity.

A remedy applied to these two evils alone would commence
the amelioration of their sad condition. We appeal, then, to
you, as sisters, as wives, and as mothers, to raise your voices
to your fellow-citizens, and your prayer to God, for the re-
moval of this affliction from the Christian world. We do not
say these things in a spirit of self-complacency, as though our
nation were free from the guilt it perceives in others. We
acknowledge, with grief and shame, our heavy share in this
great sin. We acknowledge that our forefathers introduced,
nay, compelled, the adoption of slavery in those mighty colo-
nies. We humbly confess it before Almighty God ; and it is
because we so deeply feel, and so unfeigncdly avow, our own
complicity, that we now venture to implore your aid to wipe
away our common crime and our common dishonor."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

By this time I had seen enough to become satisfied
that this, and all such interference, was grossly unjust.
I had perceived, that a clever book, written by a woman
of genius, founded on an exaggerated and distorted view
of slavery — a view which presented the exception for the
rule, and left out of sight everything which might tend
to elucidate the true rule ; and which book abounded in
ingenious appeals to the best sympathies of human nature
against oppression, and in favor of helpless sufferers : —
that such a book had succeeded in exciting excellent
people of all classes in Great Britain, until they had
become totally blind to the truth in connection with the
subject, — blind to the corruption, rottenness, oppression,
outrages, and wrongs, with which their own nation
abounded, and which should have kept their 'sympathies
where charity begins — at home ; at least until they had
wrought such changes and reforms there, as might en-
able them to bring other nations into a court of conscience
with clean hands.

From my own observations, I had by this time become
convinced, Mr. Thompson, that in Great Britain there
was more of social profligacy than in our Slave States,
among whites or blacks; more of suffering, destitution,
crime, brutality, outrages upon the unoffending and the
helpless ; more of cruelty and oppression in the treatment
of women and children, and all inferior dependents : more
of all these things, in a most painful degree, than in our
Slave States. I could not, therefore, but feel how cruel,
how sinful, indeed, was any such attempt to excite the
women of our favored land on the subject of this feature
in our social system, whilst wrongs and evils such as
these, surrounded the homes, and ever lay along the
pathways, of these virtuous ladies on every side. And
I could not but think, that, even if slavery were sinful
and wrong, and our system in this respect needed reform,
such an exhortation to make it came with an exceeding
bad grace from those who were members of a body-
politic which was productive of more and greater evils.

Under the influence of feelings and reflections such as
these, I commenced to take notes of such facts as were
continually occurring around me, made memoranda of

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ' OR,

some that had previously come to my knowledge, and
collected reports or notices of others from the public
press. When I wrote, as I frequently did, to our friend,
the Major, I communicated this information, as a method
of giving form and embodiment to the contrast and com-
parison of social institutions, which, as I have suggested,
I was anxious to have made. It is my wish that only
such of my letters written from Europe as relate to, or
have a bearing upon, this particular subject, shall be
published ; unless an exception be made of two or three
letters only, which have reference to the Great Exhibi-
tion. This may leave a considerable hiatus (or interval
unoccupied with letters) during the year 1852 and early
part of 1853 ; but the reason for this can be readily found
in the suggestion which I have made.*

I will add, that all the statements which I have made,
as statements of material facts, unless it be such as are
notorious among educated persons, and all the charges
affecting the character of individuals, or of the British
people as a nation, are based upon their own accounts of
themselves, which accompany these charges, or distinctly
refer to the authority upon which the statement is made ;
and I have ventured to make such charges only where I
could furnish some such evidence of their correctness.

In the form of an Appendix, or of Notes to these let-
ters, I will submit such facts and statistics, as will serve
the reader in the effort to compare important features
in the social economy of our slaveholding community,
with those of Great Britain as exhibited by these letters ;
and will enable him, for himself, to contrast the conduct
and character of our people with those of the British
people, and so endeavor somewhat to ascertain the effect
of slave-institutions upon the virtue and happiness of a
nation.

I am tempted to add, Mr. Thompson, that, if the public
should ratify your opinion of these letters from Old Eng-
land, I may give them, one of these days, the benefit of
similar missives from (and of a visit by Billy Buck and
myself to) New England.

The Doctor's wish has been complied with.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 23

These are the explanations which I thought it proper
to make ; and I am, dear sir,

Very respectfully,

Y'r ob'nt serv't,

P. Jones.

To W, T. Thompson, Esq.

Savannah, Geo.

LETTER L

ARRIVAL IN LONDON — BUCK VISITS THE CRYSTAL PALACE —
HIS DESCRIPTION OP IT.

London, July 8th, 1851.

Dear Ma joe : — I have arrived safely in London. I
came on after resting one night only in Liverpool : so
anxious was I to reach the Great Exhibition as soon as
possible, and have my plough regularly entered for the
race.

I had some difficulty in procuring lodgings, owing to
the press of people brought here from so many nations
by this great Fair ; and really I believe I should have
had to sleep in the streets, or have taken up with lodg-
ings something worse, but for the aid of a gentleman
whom I met by accident. My lodgings are upon a some-
what small scale, though comfortable; and I find the
people of the house accommodating enough, though their
manner of doing things is so different from that to which
I have been accustomed as to keep me somewhat ill at
ease. I have been otherwise unwell, too, ever since my
arrival, and have not left my room, though it has been
with difficulty that I have restrained myself from going
out to the Crystal palace. Buck has made his visit there,
however, and has given me the benefit of the impression
which it created upon him. Finding it advisable for me
to keep my room this morning, and having no need for
his services, I gave him permission to " go out and see

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ', OR,

the sights." He tricked himself off in his best apparel,
and started. Soon after he left the room, hearing his
voice below the window, I looked out upon the following
scene :

" Mister," said Buck to one of the waiters, taking off
his hat quite politely, " Mister, can you tell me the way
to the Christian Palace ?"

" Will you 'ave a cab ?" said the waiter.

" No, thank you," said he, with a scrape of his foot ;
"it's the Great Exerbishun I'm axin' for, sir."

" Oh, yer are, are yer ? How will yer take it — warm
with, or cold without? P'raps yer'd prefer it iced?"

"Mb, I'm obleeged to you; I wouldn't choose any,"
said Buck humbly, and puzzled ; "I wants to go to the
Christian Palace, I say, Mister."

"Oh, yer do, do yer? So I heerd yer say, yer ugly
old lamp-post ; ■ and I asked yer if yer'd 'ave a cab.
P'raps yer'd like me to get yer a 'ansom." [Hansom,
you know, Major, is the name of a vehicle which is used
in London for the transportation of passengers.]

" Look here, Mister," said Buck, " don't call names.
Ef I am ugly, I am as God made me ; and I shan't go to
you to get handsome, I can tell you ; becase you haint
got none of that ar article to spar, Mister."

Buck strode away quite indignant, and worked his
way, by hook or by crook, to the Crystal Palace. He
returned after some hours, in a state of great excite-
ment.

" How did you like the Crystal Palace ?" said I.

" First-rate, Marster. But this here London town is
curoser than it. I never spected to see sich a place in
all my born days. Why, Marster, hits so big, tell you,
can't tell you how big hit is — whar hit begins, nor whar
hit eends. I sorter used to think that Pineville was
some punkins, tell I seed Augusty, and hit tuk the shine
out of it ; then I seed New York, and Augusty was no
whar 'longside of it. But, Marster, you might take
Pineville, an' Augusty, an' New York, an wrap urn all
up together, an put 'urn all into one of the pockets of
this big town, an' then you couldn't find urn 'thout
sarchin' mighty close."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

What about the Crystal Palace?" said I; "What is it
like?"

u Well, Marster," said he, "hits a monstrous big glass
house, fixed up with iron. Take it bye and large, sir, an'
hit's bout as big as our rye pasture ; an' hit's sittiwated
in a sort o' woods lot that they calls a park, 'bout the
size of our brush-arbor field. Hit's as chock full of'
curosities as a egg is of meat, sir. Thar's trees grow-
ing in it 'bout as big as some of the trees in our grove,
sir."

"Are the trees in the park large and fine?" said I.

"Tell you what it is, Marster, we've .got no sich
houses as that in our country, an' no sich curosities in
'urn as I seed thar ; but when hit comes to trees, sir,
we've got urn — them trees can't shine 'longside of our
Georgy woods."

" How did you find your way to the Palace?" said I.

" Kep etarnally axin, Marster, tell I found people
gwine thar. God knows, thar was people enough in the
streets to ax of — more people than ever I seed before, in
all the days of my life, I raaly do believe, sir ; and some
of the outlandishest folks at that. They didn't seem
to talk good Inglish talk, nohow ; an' 'pearecl like they
couldn't adzactly onderstand me. Ef what half on urn
said hadn't been a huckleberry over my persimmon to
onderstand, I mought have found my way to the Chris-
tian Palace before I did."

" I observed your failure to understand the waiter,"
said I, "when you first left the house, and the blunders
you committed when talking to him. The man requested
to know if he should call a cab (that is. a carriage) for
you ; and then he asked if he should get a hansom for
you (another name for a sort of carriage or cab), and
you were quite impertinent in your replies to him."

" Well, raaly ! was that what he meant to say, sir ?
Why, I thought he was tryin' to make divarsion of me.
I'll go right straight off, Marster, and ax the genTman's
pardon."

As I told you, Major, my apartments are rather con-
tracted ; but, considering what the press is just now, I
* have reason to be thankful that I have done so well.
3

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Everything is neat and clean, and the servants are atten-
tive. It is the custom here, I find, to furnish the supply
of accommodations according to the demand. A certain
price must be paid for your apartments, and then you
are charged separately for everything else. But for
what I am informed are customary servants' fees, the
prices would not be so very extravagant, considering the
crowds who are now swarming into this city. My pro-
bable expenses by the week, as well as I can learn, will
not exceed fifty-eight shillings, not reckoning servant's
perquisites; or about fifteen dollars in our currency.
Not so very bad, considering the "jam."

You shall hear from me again soon. Meantime, I am,
dear Major,

Your friend and cousin,
To Major Jones, P. Jones. -

Pineville Georgia, U. S. of America.

LETTER, II.

DR. JONES VISITS AND DESCRIBES THE GREAT EXHIBITION.

London, July 10th, 1851.

Dear major : — I have visited the Great Exhibition,
and hasten to write you an account rather of the general
impression produced on my mind than of the details. To
furnish you with an account of these details would re-
quire many days, and then I should have performed the
task very imperfectly. You will find it sufficiently well
done by the newspapers, which I send you by this mail.
In this letter I enclose an excellent engraving, which I
assure you presents an accurate picture of one front and
end of the building, and gives you a very good idea of
the whole.

The building, you know, is chiefly composed of glass,
supported by iron pillars, which spring from the wooden
flooring. The roof, which is of glass, has been somewhat

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

darkened and protected by a canvass covering, and the
water which falls on it is carried off through the centres
of the many thousand iron pillars, which have been
made hollow, and thus perform the double purpose of
props and gutters. These pillar -pipes conduct the water
into drains below, which communicate with sewers be-
neath the ground. A shower of rain came on whilst I
was in the building, and the effect was very extraordi-
nary. A roaring sound in the direction of the roof was
heard, as of the surf upon the Sea-shore, whilst, by list-
ening attentively, the dashing of a thousand muffled
water-falls might be detected within the pillars. The
size of the building may be judged of by the fact that
the roof comprises a space of about twenty acres. The
banners which are ranged along the roof are the flags
of all nations; and the prominent feature which you
will observe in the centre of the building is the great
transept. The main entrance is on the south.

I was indebted to the assistance of a gentleman who
had frequently visited the Palace in forming my first ac-
quaintance with it, and you shall have the benefit of
somewhat that I saw and learned.

When I had passed by that main entrance, my attention
was first called to many narrow, dark-looking passages,
branching to the right and left of this entrance. Here,
I was told, presided the intellect which governed this
vast piece of machinery. The main-springs which give
it motion and regulate its action are here seated. In a
number of small apartments, a few feet square, connected
with each other, the members of the Executive Commit-
tee are accustomed to sit and administer the affairs of
the Institution, as it may be called. Lieutenant-Colonel
Eeed, of the Engineering Corps attached to the British
army, assisted by a Mr. Dilke, here superintends the
whole. A Mr. Cole regulates the allotment of space and
the arrangement of articles in the building, and Mr.
Digby Wyatt here looks after its plans and structure.
Here are also the heads of various other departments,
too tedious to mention. On the left is a room more
sumptuously furnished than those I have just described,
where the Koyal Commissioners sometimes assemble.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

From this position I advanced into the body of the
edifice, and was soon lost in the seething mass of life
which stirred throughout the immense enclosure. It is
said in the papers that more than fifty thousand persons
visited the building on that day. I found people of all
nations, apparently, and all tongues, encountering and
jostling one another ; and there was more that was im-
pressive to me in this mass of men, coming from the
quiet of a country home, as I did, than in all that mag-
nificent and curious assemblage of the world's wealth
which was ranged on every side of me. Something of
the order in which this was arranged you will learn from
the number of the Times which I send you. I will en-
deavor to give you an idea of the character of the arti-
cles by such general descriptions of them as I find fur-
nished. Of course, by far the greater number of speci-
mens supplied are by citizens of the United Kingdom of
England, Ireland, and Scotland. I am sorry that our
countrymen have occupied so small a space in the build-
ing. They have filled only a portion of that which was
set apart for them, and so far, their contributions are not
very remarkable.

The interest of an American who enters the building
turns almost instinctively to the machinery exhibited. I
mention, then, as first in the list, the splendid Speci-
mens of various Machines, Steam Engines, Railway Car-
riages, and Naval Mechanism. The United Kingdom
is almost unrivalled in this field, and the specimens fur-
nished are most admirable. Then come Civil Engineer-
ing, and Architectural and Building Machinery ; in
which the preponderance is greatly in favor of Great
Britain, but France and Switzerland compete hand-
somely. Next we have Naval Architecture, then Mili-
tary Engineering, Ordnance, Armor, and Accoutrements.
In some of these branches the competition is very consi-
derable. Next in order I mention Agricultural and
Horticultural ^Machines and Implements. Here, again,
there is considerable competition from the United King-
dom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and, in a less
degree, from our country. I expected many more con-
tributions in this line from our countrymen, especially

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

from the ingenious mechanics of New England. There
is a reaping machine exhibited by a Mr. M'Cormick, from
the United States, which is very much admired, and will
receive a prize, I have no doubt. There is a fine speci-
men of a plough from the same quarter, contributed by
Pronty and Mears ; and then there is the plough of your
humble servant : both of which deserve success, if they
do not obtain it. I was next attracted to Manufac-
turing Machines and Tools. Here the competition with
the United Kingdom is very considerable, and here our
countrymen enter the lists a little more extensively ; but
new specimens from their hands are not as numerous as
I expected to see them. Carriages of various sorts then
drew my attention. The United Kingdom has it pretty
much its own way here. Our people show some buggies,
which may perhaps win favor. I next mention Philoso-
phical and Surgical Instruments. Here the competition
is very great, and the specimens most wonderful. Fol-
lowing this, I should place Horological Instruments —
clocks, watches, etc. ; in which the competition is very
great. Among the clocks is one intended to run five
hundred days. There are also many interesting speci-
mens of Musical Instruments from many nations. Our
countryman, Mr. Chickering, will obtain a prize for his
piano, I have no doubt. My attention was next given to
the department of Cotton Fabrics. Here, perhaps, you
naturally expect our people to shine ; but I am afraid it
will not turn out so. The United Kingdom has a great
preponderance in the articles exhibited, though there are
some splendid specimens from other countries. France
contributes some articles which, for originality and
beauty of design, are unsurpassed. Switzerland sends
splendid specimens of muslins and ginghams, and our
New England manufacturers send some coarse fabrics
which are much admired. In Woollen and Worsted the
competition is greater, and the display is most remark-
able. Our countrymen are " no where " in the race. So,
again, with reference to Silk and Velvet, to manufactures
from Flax and Hemp, and to Mixed Fabrics, Shawls, etc.
Saxony sends very rich specimens of silk stuffs for tapestry,
furniture, carriages, etc. Satins, laces, embroidery, broca-
3*

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

telle, etc., rich specimens of velvet, silk, embroidered cam-
bric handkerchiefs, etc., are also sent from Geneva. In
Leather manufactures there is also considerable competi-
tion ; and here, especially in the articles of harness and
trunks, our people present some claims to rivalry. The
exhibition of Skins, Furs, etc., is also very extensive, and
very admirable. The department of Paper, Stationery,
Printing, and Bookbinding next attracted my observation.
In this department are 160 fine books, printed in the Ara-
bic, Persian, and Turkish languages, contributed by the
Government of Egypt. Think of Abbas Pasha sending
literature to the Great Exhibition ! There are innume-
rable specimens of Printing, or Dyeing, which I did not
have time to examine. The Tapestry, Carpets, etc., ex-
hibited, constitute one of the most interesting depart-
ments in the Exhibition ; and in it there is remarkable
competition among several of the European States. Here
again we are far behind in the race. In Lace and Em^
broidery, Fancy Work, etc., the same remarks may be
made. In Articles of Clothing for Domestic use the com-
petition is also very extensive ; and here some fine arti-
cles from our country are exhibited. In Lron and Hard-
ware there is very considerable competition between
the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, and France;
though I must confess the English seem to bear away the
palm in this line. So, too, they have it very much all
their own way in Cutlery and Edge Tools. In Jewelry,
Working in the Precious Metals, Articles of Virtu, etc.,
the competition is very remarkable among the European
States. Here, in my opinion, the greatest number of
prizes in proportion to the number of contributions will
be borne away by citizens of France — their goldsmith
work is indeed very beautiful. In Glass, the display is
very remarkable, and the honors very much divided
among European States, I thought. So, also, as to Por-
celain, Earthenware, etc. So, also, as to Decorative Fur-
niture and Upholstery, Manufactures in Mineral Sub-
stayices used for Building or Decoration. So as to
various Mamifactures from Animal and Vegetable Sub-
stances, such as straw and shell work, ivory, combs,
India-rubber, gutta-percha, hair, feathers, brushes, etc.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

Here, again, our people bravely enter the lists in the
India-rubber and gutta-percha lines. In Sculpture, Mo-
dels, and the Plastic art, the competition is chiefly among
the Continental European States, Italy, France, Austria,
Bavaria, Belgium, Prussia, and other parts of Germany.
The United States are represented by Powers and his
Greek Slave. In Mining, Quarrying, etc., the specimens
were very extensive, especially from the various States
of Europe. And so in Chemical and Pharmaceutical
Processes arid Products. In the department of Substances
used as Food, the display was truly remarkable and ex-
ceedingly interesting. And here, our country is enabled
very prominently and favorably to enter into the compe-
tition. Here Abbas Pasha, of Egypt, and Mr. T. Bell,
of Genesee, in our country, are rivals in the article of
wheat. Heath & Burrows, from Australia, refuse to ad-
mit the superiority of either specimen to that which they
present ; Lepelletier, from Algeria, also claims the privi-
lege of entering the lists against them all. Here sugars
from Siam, from Canada, from Cuba, from the United
States, from Malaga, from India, from France (beet
sugar), and from Austria (also beet sugar), are in gene-
rous rivalry. But I fear I shall grow tedious if I longer
continue the subject. I will therefore only add that the
collection of Vegetable and Animal Substances, Woods,
etc., used in Manufactures as Implements, etc., or for
Ornament, was most extensive and curious. It is, of
course, from all parts of the world, and names of contri-
butors in this department very familiar to me, such as
Mr. Bond, and James V. Jones, of our State, and Colonel
Hampton and Colonel Seabrook, of South Carolina, are
found alongside of St. Maur, of Algeria, M'Arthur, of
New South Wales, Manuel, Cape of Good Hope, and
Abdul Hamid, of Egypt.

Perhaps I may return to this subject. In the mean
time, I am, dear Major,

Your friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD \ OR;

LETTER III.

BUCK'S GREETING OF THE QUEEN AND ROYAL FAMILY — IN-
TERVIEW WITH AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN — CONVERSATION
AS TO SLAVERY.

London, August 1st, 1851.

Dear Major : — One day last week I had the pleasure
of seeing the Royal Family of this country. Under-
standing that they were to visit the Crystal Palace at or
about a certain hour, and that they would probably enter
by one of the private doors, which was pointed out to
me, I determined to obtain a position from which I could
see them. I repaired to the spot, but found myself pre-
ceded by quite a number of persons. I succeeded, how-
ever, in getting near enough to see them, though the
view was not as satisfactory as I could have desired.
The Queen appeared to be a ladylike but most plain per-
son, with amiable features, and rather under size in
stature. The Prince, her husband, was a very fine-look-
ing gentleman, of about middle stature, I thought, and
rather intellectual in his appearance. Of the children
I did not get a good view.

I was much interested with the enthusiasm of the
people around me. They were evidently influenced not
only by the sentiment of loyalty, but by a feeling more
tender — a sentiment of affection for and sympathy with
the good and virtuous wife and mother. I confess that
my own heart warmed toward the august lady, as I saw
her thus, not with the peculiar bearing of a mighty sove-
reign, but as the gentle patroness of industry and the
arts, and with her husband and children about her,
affording to her subjects and the world an example of
those domestic virtues which shed so sweet and soft a
light upon the hearthstone, as well of the humble home-
stead as of the royal palace ; and, republican as I was, I
joined right heartily in the cheers which were given her

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 33

before she entered the building. As for Buck, by dint
of pushing and elbowing, he managed to get nearer, and
mounted on a curb-stone, or step of some sort, which
rather raised him above the heads of most of the crowd.
He joined lustily in the cheering, and then, turning
toward me, and affecting the droll, he said, in his Afri-
can lingo, " God bress my soul, Massa, she nuttin but
buckra folks arter all ! I been tink she engel from heb-
bin, only got petticoat stidy wing."

Some of those around him cheered this speech ; which
observing, the rogue continued :

" Well, if she no bin engel, Mussa, she desarve to be
engel ; she good sem like engel, dat trute. In my coun-
try, Massa," (addressing a portly gentleman, whose fine
face, glowing with delight, was turned up to him,) " in
Ebo country, dem queen de debbil."

" You had better be careful, Buck," said I, for want
of something better to say, " how you declare that the
Queen deserves to be an angel. That is as much as to
say she deserves to die ; and some of these loyal Eng-
lishmen, hearing you say that, may charge you with com-
passing the death of her Majesty."

Buck. "No sir-ree, Massa! me no compuss nuttin —
nairy time — me only say dat Queen good sem like engel
— dat what make her people lub hear so, Massa."

" So it is, my man," said the same portly and good-
humored gentleman to whom I have referred; "so it is ;
and I honor you for appreciating our Queen as you do."

The gentleman shook Buck warmly by the hand. The
latter returned the grasp with such a right good will as
to bring tears into the Englishman's handsome eyes.

" What is your name, my man ?" said he.

" Billy Buck," said Buck, taking off his hat and drop-
ping his African dialect, " sarvant to Dr. Jones, of Georgy,
sir : this gen'l'man, sir, my Marster."

" Sir," said the gentleman, turning to me with a bow,
" I have been quite pleased with the humor of your ser-
vant, and his liking for our Queen."

Myself. " He has been bred, sir, in a country where all
classes honor those virtues which are so conspicuous in
the Queen of England, and where the sex of your sove-

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

reign is always treated with respect by the opposite sex
— even by the slave."

Stranger. 11 You are from the United States, I suppose;
and this man is your slave."

Myself. "Yes."

Stranger. 11 Yours is a remarkable country, sir ; and
certainly such respect for the gentler sex is highly credit-
able to its people. I have heard it said that there was a
chivalric regard for women in America. Does your ob-
servation in Europe serve to strengthen the belief that
your people are peculiar in this respect ?"

Myself. " 1 have been impressed with the conviction that
a more delicate respect for woman, and tender regard for
little children, is common among my countrymen, espe-
cially in the Southern States, than — if you will pardon
me, sir — than among Englishmen."

Stranger. "Why should this be so? And can you
assign a reason for such a state of facts ?"

Myself. " Perhaps the subject, as a social problem,
should be closely studied, to be thoroughly understood in
all its aspects ; but I like to think of the fact of which I
have spoken, as a blessing from the household and family
gods of our people — the Lares familiares, sir, as an
ancient people once called them. My countrymen, espe-
cially in the South, as a general rule, live very much in
families. The necessaries of life are sufficiently easy of
acquisition to encourage our young men and women in
the ready formation of family ties. In a country like
ours, it is to the public interest that families should be
increased as much as possible ; and therefore these rela-
tions assume a very high importance in the eyes of so-
ciety. In a commnnity where the institution of slavery
exists, the servants, as slaves, become a permanent por-
tion of, and are completely identified with, the family
circle, and thus that circle is enlarged and widened in its
sphere and influences. Depend upon it, sir, it was not with-
out a foundation in true knowledge of human nature that
those ancient Romans chose the " Decurions of their La-
res" in every family from among its slaves, and appointed
slaves, not freemen, to assist the priests in their sacri-
fices to these divinities, as Cicero and Horace both inform

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

us was the custom. You may remember that, in your
schoolboy lessons, you found a very pleasant picture,
drawn by the latter, of the happy slaves sitting around
the family Lares :

'Positos, que vernas ditis examen domus,
Circura renidentes Lares.'

It is in this way, sir, that I account, in part, for a gene-
ral prevalence among my countrymen, white and black,
of those affections, sympathies, . and sentiments which
cluster around the homes of a people, and those who are
identified with those homes : viz., women and children."

Stranger. " Sir, you put the subject before me in a strik-
ing and, to me, somewhat novel light. I have not been
in the habit of thinking of your slaves as living under
the influence of such relations between them and their
owners."

Myself. " In that, you and others have not rightly com-
prehended this institution as it exists among us. To a
great extent, and as a general rule, our slaves regard
themselves as a part of the family, and bound up with
its interests. As a race, they are good-humored and
affectionate, and they soon become attached to their
owners, unless the latter are cruel to them, which does
not as often happen as may be supposed ; for the interest
of- the owner generally forbids it (as the law does),
when conscience does not. Your own eloquent Burke,
in his letters to Arthur Young, has said that ' It is
plainly more to the farmer's interest that his men should
thrive than that his horses should be well fed, sleek, and
plump, and fit for use, or than that his wagons and
ploughs should be strong, in good repair, and fit for ser-
vice.' If this be right when spoken of free laborers,
you will readily perceive how it must be so of those who
are the property of the farmer. The attachment of which
I have spoken is very often mutual, and strong and life-
long friendships are thus formed. Here is my man, for
example, to whom I am indebted for the pleasure of this
interview with you, sir. Next to my wife and child, I
have no such living friend." *

* See Appendix, K, g 2.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

Stranger. " Truly, sir, I am happy to have met with you,
and your man too. I shall be glad to make your better
acquaintance, and will exchange cards with you with
pleasure."

I learned, during the day, that my newly-formed ac-
quaintance was a Mr. A , a gentleman of large

landed estate and great wealth in Yorkshire; and that,
though now confining himself very much to agriculture,
he was highly respected, of considerable influence, and
had a seat in Parliament.

In the course of a few days, I received a visit from

Mr. A , and I think our respect for each other was

increased by the interview. Buck and he, too, had a
long conversation, and he protested that Buck was " quite
a trump of a fellow." He invited me cordially to make
him a visit at his country seat, and by all means to bring
Buck with me. I think he was sincere, and we parted
almost as old friends. He has less of that unimpressible
reserve which characterizes Englishmen generally than
I have ever before met with in a gentleman of this na-
tion, and more of ready sympathy. I think I shall accept
his invitation, and so learn somewhat of life in the
country among the gentry of England. If I do, you
may expect to hear something on the subject from

Your friend and cousin,
P. Jones.

To Maj. Joseph Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

LETTEE IV.

ANECDOTE OF DR. JACKSON AND THE GEORGIAN IN LONDON,

WHOSE INDIANS WOULDN'T SHOW DR. JONES'S PLOUGH A

FAILURE IN ENGLAND, BECAUSE. HE DID NOT CARRY HIS

ROOTS WITH HIM A FRENCHMAN'S OPINION OF AMERICA

ANECDOTE OF CAPTAIN BLACK THE DOCTOR CONSOLES

HIMSELF FOR HIS FAILURE WITH *A SCRAP FROM THE TRA-
GEDY OF "TOM THUMB."

London, October 20th, 1851.

Dear Major : — It is true, as you suggest, that I have
not, in- either of my letters, said anything about the fate
of my plough. I wish that the subject could be quietly
put aside, and that you did not cause me to renew my
grief by alluding to it. It " goes against the grain," as
we say in Georgia ; but I might as well own up at once,
and be done with it — my plough speculation has proven
a bit of a failure here, Major.

Before saying more about it, I will tell you a story
which the late venerable Dr. Jackson was accustomed to
relate.

Many years ago, the Doctor was Secretary of Legation
when Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, was Minister of the
United States at the French Court. Whilst occupying
that post, he had occasion to visit London ; and during
that visit he was called upon by a citizen of Georgia, who
had need for his advice and services. The Georgian had,
a short time previously, taken with him to London a
party of Creek Indians, with whom he had entered into
an agreement for the purpose of putting them on exhibi-
tion in Great Britain. Very soon after they had reached
London, and the profits of their adventure had com-
menced, the Indians obtained a taste of fire-water, and
at once broke over all bounds of discretion. Refusing to
have their powers confined to the " pent-up Utica " of an
exhibition-room, they stampeded, and roamed over the

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

city at large — thus gratifying the curiosity of the cock-
neys gratis, and utterly annihilating the Georgian's
visions of golden guineas in prospective. He had spent
his all in transporting the Indians to England, and after
this break-down of his plans, was in great embarrass-
ment. He went to the Doctor, as a brother Georgian,
stated his distress, and obtained advice and assistance. I
mention his case, because it reminds me of my own ad-
venture in one particular. He told the Doctor that he
was ruined by having omitted only one little element
from his calculation when embarking upon his specula-
tion. All his plans, he said, were well laid in every re-
spect, and the Indians and he were " as good for a for-
tune as a thrip was for a ginger-cake — only, when it
came to the pinch, the d d crceturs wouldn't show.1'

Now my case was somewhat similar in one respect, as
I have suggested. I, too, had omitted one little element
from the calculation. In every other feature my plans
were perfect; but unfortunately, Major, my plough
couldn't show.

You know that the great and distinguishing feature in
my invention was its adaptation to cutting up and break-
ing away roots and other such obstacles. Well, when I
met the Committee of the Great Exhibition who were to
decide upon the merits of the invention, whose claims I
had lodged in the usual and regular manner, you may be
sure that I dwelt eloquently upon this new and most im-
portant feature. I made a decided impression upon the
members, I thought. It appeared to me very plainly
that my point was gained, and that the long coveted
medal was as good as won, when a great, bluff, beef-eating
John Bull of a fellow, in a sort of cut-away coat, with
an immense riding-whip sticking out of the pocket, — a
perfect gentleman, though, in voice and manner, I must
confess, — exclaimed, "Ah, yes ! It's all very well, with-
out doubt. But where shall we see it tried ? What do
we know about cutting roots ? And where shall we find
a bit of ground such as the gentleman describes?"

Gracious heavens ! It had never occurred to me
before, but it was too true — there were no new ground-
roots in England. The Committee had no experience in

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

such matters ; and my invention had about as much
practical value in their eyes as if it had been designed
to tarn up the lava on the mountains in the moon.

And here I had been, for several long months, rolling
this sweet morsel of hope under my tongue, and spend-
ing so many dollars in " projectin' " with the thing, as
Buck expressed it — and now to be defeated because they
could not " go to the root of the matter," was too bad.
Think of a country so "bad off" as not to have any new
grounds or clearings, Major ! The blow was a smasher ;
and I felt very much like that little Frenchman who was
landed for the first time on American soil, with a party
of English or American sailors (the story does not say
which), upon a barren spot in West Florida. He looked
around at the dreary landscape, the gopher-hills, the
black-jacks, the stunted pines, and palmettos, and shud-
deringly exclaimed, "And dees is Amerique, eh? Vel,
if dees is Amerique, je suis perfectment disguust, God
d n !"

I confess that I was perfectly disgusted, myself. I did
not care who knew it; and thereupon I vowed a vow
something like that taken by that witty friend of our
youth, the late Captain Black — peace to his memory !

The Captain, (as we always called him, you know,) had
once taken up several cases from the county in which he
practised as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
He had been accustomed to have his own way very much,
when not gravelled by some point of law, before the juries
of his county ; but meeting with indifferent success before
the Court of Errors and Appeals, he left the chamber,
shook its dust from his feet, and vowed that he would
never take another case to the Supreme Court until he
could carry his jury up with him. He kept that vow,
too, I believe, and never did take up another case.

Well, my vow was, that I would never again take a
plough to an exhibition in England until I could carry my
roots with me.

Notwithstanding this disappointment, I consider that
my plough has triumphed ; for no one has dared to enter
the lists with me. The idea has been on all sides ad-
mitted to be a happy one; and I clearly only needed "a

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

fair field '' to insure favor and success. I may therefore
exclaim with Lord Grizzle, in his campaign against Tom
Thumb,

" Thus far our arms with victory are crowned ;
For, though we have not fought, yet we have found
No enemy to fight withal."

The fact is, Major, though I have been trying to put a
good face on the matter, yet I am not a little taken down
by it, I will confess to you.

I know you are sorry for me; but don't carry that
sort of thing too far, and be as quiet about it as you can.
I already hear your attempts at consolation. Yes, I
know very well, that " it is useless to cry over spilt milk,"
and that "what can't be cured" — &c. There, you need
not finish. I know, I know it quite as well as Poor
Richard ever did, or Sancho Panza, or any other grinder
of the grist called proverbs. I know, besides, what you
would say, but for your compassion at present, that I
should have "stuck to my last," and not have been a
suitor for favors in foreign lands, but have sent my plough
to the Georgia fair at Atlanta. I confess that, if I had
done that, the want of a few roots would not have been
in the way of my luck. But never mind. It is not too
late. I can do that yet. I can christen it for Mr. Peters,
call it the " Peters' Root Ripper," and so overcome fate,
vanquish destiny, and secure a premium.

In the meantime, don't make any more fun or fuss
about my temporary failure than you can possibly help ;
or I shall not continue to subscribe myself

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones, Pineville, Geo.,

U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

LETTER V.

DR. JONES AND HIS MAN VISIT A HALL IN YORKSHIRE.

A Hall, November 14, 1851.

Dear Major : — I accepted Mr. A 's invitation, so

cordially extended to me, as mentioned in my letter of
August 4th, and repeated a few days since; and have
been for two days his guest at this place.

I came by rail of course, and had but a flying glance
at the country, except the last eight or ten miles ; other-
wise I would give you something of a description of it.
I could see enough, however, to excite my warmest admi-
ration for the signs of culture and of comfort which
abounded on every side. The sensations which a journey
for the first time through such a region excites in the
bosom of an American, are of a very animated character.
Much of that which is common-place to the inhabitants
of older countries, impresses him with the freshness of
originality. Antiquity itself, or rather that which results
from it, is novelty to him. Read as he may about these
things, the native of our country can have no cor-
rect conception of the progress of the same people through
many centuries of civilization, until he beholds the results
with his own eyes. Prosperous as we are, and rich in so
many kinds of resources in our country, our tastes are yet
in their infancy, and we are almost unlearned in the great
elements of architecture. The truth is, to one accustomed
to our society, the beauty of the parks, and gardens, and
public grounds here, the elaborate, substantial, and mas-
sive character of the architecture, and the lavish expen-
diture necessary to create these things, must always be
objects of wonder.

I found Mr. A 's carriage waiting for me at the

station where I was to leave the rail ; and I then rode
several miles through a country still more beautiful, I
4*

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

believe, than any I had seen. My ride was for the most
part along one of those valleys which abound, I am told,
in this part of Yorkshire, and are remarkable for beauty
and fertility. In it seemed to be concentrated all, or
nearly all, of those features which are peculiar to English
scenery. On either side were to be seen trim and accu-
rately clipped hedges; graceful slopes, dressed in that
neat and tidy beauty, so distinctively English ; elegant
mansions, or picturesque cottages, surrounded by exten-
sive green crops, stacks of grain ornamentally put up,
clusters of handsome trees, and grassy lawns. Occasion-
ally I beheld a lordly dwelling-place, of substantial gran-
deur, encompassed with parks and beautiful scenery ; and
then I passed beneath the brow of a hill which was covered
with a feudal ruin. From one elevated point the view was
magnificent. I stopped the carriage, that I might enjoy
it for a few minutes. In my immediate vicinity the
prospect was such as I have just described. In the dis-
tance, on one side of me, were strange, greyish-colored
hills, monotonous in outline, and which, I was told, are
called the Wolds. In another direction could be seen the
spire of what, the coachman told me, was York-Minster ;
in another, the silver thread of a river was seen flowing
towards the sea; and in yet another lay a bright and
sparkling lake, fixed like a jewel in the rich drapery of
the landscape.

In a short time we reached a more level country, and

soon afterwards came upon the estate of Mr. A .

About a mile from the Hall we entered the park-gates,
which were opened for us by a young woman, who came
out of the porter's lodge ; and we then advanced along
an avenue bordered with splendid oak and beech trees.

Presently Billy Buck, who was on the outside of the
carriage, cried out in so much excitement as to forget his
usual respectful address — " Marster, marster, Joe's dead,
ef thar aint a deer." I had scarcely looked out, when he
exclaimed — "As God is my judge, marster, thar's two on
'urn — three — four — five — w-h-e-w-t, thar's a whole gang,
sir — look, look, marster ! How on y earth do they git
here, sir?

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

They are tame deer," said I, " and are kept in the
parks here like cattle."

" Well, raaly ! I thought it mighty curous, how wild
deer could live here 'mong all the clarins we've been see-
in, thick as the woods is jest here, sir. Well, tame or
not, hits a beautiful sight, marster. I wish Mars. Joe
was here to see hit. Hit 'ud give him the hystrikes, sar-
tain, ef he was to see 'urn standin so fare, an he not
'lowed to bring ' Old Nance ' " [your rifle's name, I sup-
pose, Major] " to bar on 'urn. W-h-oo-pee, what would'nt
he give jest to git a crack at one, an then turn Black-
Jowler, an Kill-Buck, an Bock^ loose on the balance.
Now, would'nt ole Bock be in town, with a pocket full o'
rocks, an such easy work before him ? I 'member, that
arter a good day's hunt once, an you had killed a fine
buck, when you saw the old feller come in an stalk across
Mars. Joe's yard so solemn an dignity like, with his long
ears floppin on his shoulders, like Mars. Joe's eperlettes,
as you said, you made a bow to him, an called him —
Major Hock Jones. I think the ole dog would soon git
permoted to be a kurnel, ef he was here, marster."

I was as much excited by the sight, I believe, as Buck
was ; though, as we Georgians say, I did not ' ' show my
country" so much as he did, and rather tried to look as
though I was used to it. In a few minutes more we came
in sight of flocks of the finest sheep and herds of the hand-
somest and fattest cattle I had ever seen. Then, the grounds
on either side of us became very beautiful. On my right I
observed a vista in the forest, which seemed to terminate
at the top of a gentle hill, on which was situated what
appeared to be a Grecian temple or portico. On our left
now appeared a scene of the most perfect sylvan beauty.
Through the green foliage could be seen an occasional
statue, and the waters of a fountain sparkling in the fading
sunlight ; whilst a brawling brook, now burst into a lovely
waterfall, now ran under a rustic bridge, and then spread
peacefully into a quiet little lake, on whose bosom were
floating some1 graceful waterfowl. As we came opposite
to this spot, and it attracted the attention of my servant,
he exclaimed — " Marster, thar's a spring, sir — a raal
spoutin spring, sir, comin out of some sort of a varmint's

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

mouth — did you ever?" At that instant he caught sight
of a statue — u Dont look, sir, dont look, marster ! " said
he, rapidly turning his head in the opposite direction, —
" thar B somebody naked thar, sir — what on yearth is they
gwine to do, naked thar, sir, this cool day?"

" Its a statue, Buck ; a marble statue, nothing else."

" Well, raaly ! sure enough, sure enough ! " said he.

The waterfowl on the lake next excited his admiration.
" Goodness gracious ! marster, look at that gander, with
a long neck," exclaimed he.

u That's a swan, Buck," said I.

" Is hit good to eat, sir ? "

Here the turrets of the Hall appeared in view, and our
attention was drawn thitherward, as they appeared above,
and at times disappeared behind, the trees, according to
the inequalities of the ground, as we approached. Now we
came upon the lawn, and then among shrubbery so beau-
tiful as to beggar description ; and then we rolled up
before the house, which, I had just time to see, was quite
imposing, when the carriage stopped, the steps were let
down, and Mr. A came forward with a hearty greet-
ing and welcome to both master and servant.

After a short time spent in conversation with him, a
bell rang, which I was notified was the dressing-bell, pre-
vious to dinner. Everybody dresses for dinner in the
houses of gentlemen here, Major. I was shown to my
chamber, which I found to be a most luxurious apartment,
lined with pink paper, and the windows and bed hung
with rich silk curtains of the same color. My luggage
had preceded me. A servant was in attendance to receive
my orders, but almost every comfort had been anticipated.
The straps of my trunk were unbuckled, a fire was burn-
ing cheerily in the grate, a candle was on the table, water
in the richest china basins and ewers, and on one side was
a writing- table, covered with paper, envelopes, wax, etc.

About 7 o'clock I was summoned to dinner. I had the
honor of a seat by one of the young ladies, whom I es-
corted to the table at the request of my host ; and a very
intelligent and well-bred person I found her. The com-
pany consisted of Mr. A — « — 's family (a wife and several
daughters), together with several guests; among whom

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

4-5

were Lord B. (a relative of the family), Sir C. C. and
lady, and several ladies and gentlemen of the neighbor-
hood. The dinner was as sumptuous as wealth and taste
could make it, and the company very agreeable. After
the removal of the cloth, the ladies retired, and the gen-
tlemen drew nearer together, and talked over the wine
longer than the state of my health made it desirable for
me. We discussed the recent Great Exhibition, among
other things, and this gave me an opportunity of amusing
my neighbors with the fate of my plough. My descrip-
tion and imitation of the Squire, who put the final extin-
guisher upon my hopes, quite " brought down the house."

When we went up to the drawing-room, I found the
ladies very agreeable, and there was some sweet music.
During the evening, Mr. A insisted upon my repeat-
ing the story of my plough for the benefit of the ladies ;
which I did, apparently to their amusement. These
ladies themselves enticed me into a conversation about my
family and home, and seemed to feel an interest in learn-
ing from me details of this kind, so pleasant to me. I
was sensible that it was very kind and courteous in them.

About 11 o'clock, I saw that some of the company oc-
casionally left the room, took up a candle in the entry,
where a number were placed, with alumettes, etc., for
lighting, and departed, as I supposed, for their chambers.
I followed, and retired to my room. A servant announced
the breakfast hour of the house to me, and I lay down to
rest, and to dream of a home and its inmates far away,
as sweet to me as if it were "surrounded and filled by the
luxuries amidst which I was reposing.

I was at the breakfast- table next morning a little after
9 o'clock — the breakfast hour being from 9 to 11 ; and
there found all the family and two or three other persons.
Each seated himself or herself, as he or she came in, with-
out ceremony. On the table were several kinds of bread,
and nice fresh butter. Coffee or chocolate, if either was
desired, was brought in a small silver coffee-pot, with
sugar-dish and cream-pot of the same material, and the
person to whom it was brought helped him or herself. If
tea were preferred, a silver urn, heated by spirits of wine,
was placed by the side of the person wishing it, together

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

with a small silver tea-pot, etc., and a little caddie of
black and green tea, from which he or she helped him or
herself, unless it was preferred that a servant should do
it. On the side-tables were ham, cold chicken, cold game,
etc., to which most of those present rose and helped
themselves. By the side of my plate was a morning's
paper. At the breakfast-table the plan of movements
for the day was arranged. After consulting me on the
subject, my host proposed to show me the grounds, crops,
etc. ; and, learning that I was capable of bringing down
my bird on the wing, he suggested that the keeper should
meet us with guns and dogs, and that we should knock
down a few birds on our way home. Into this segment
of the circle of our operations Lord B. and two other gen-
tlemen begged that they might be taken.

When I went to my room, in order that I might pre-
pare for my excursion, I found Buck waiting for me, and
at once saw that there was something on his mind.
" What is the matter ?" said I.

" How long are you going to stay here, Marster ?"
said he.

" Two or three days, I suspect. Why do you ask?"

" Bccase I wanted to know, my Marster, ef I could do
'thout eatin tell we went away. Fact is, Marster, I dont
adzackly know what to do ; but as to eatin with them
white ladies an genTmen, an with them silver forks,
too, hit aint in me to do it, an its no use tryin. I couldnt
do it ef I was gwine to die for not doin it. They tells
me they's sarvants too, an so I says to myself when I
sets down 'mong 'em ; but bombye one on 'em, he says to
me, very perlitely, — for they's all mighty perlite ; I must
say that, — says he, 1 What will you ave, sir ?' says he ;
'what will you be elped to, sir?' says he. An when I
looks up, an sees all them nice white gals, dressed jest
like ladies, lookin at me, I jest takes an chokes right
down, Marster ; an so says I, 1 No, I'm obleeged to you,
Marster,' Bays I, 'I wouldn't choose nothin.' I knowed
how bit Wfi^j sir, but I couldnt help callin sich a gen'l'-
man Looking white man 'Marster,' to save me; and then
they all couldnt keep from lamn, though they tried, I
OOUid see. One of the ladies, then, she tried to do some-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

thin for me, an first thing I knowed I called her 1 Missis/
an off they all went agin, tell they was red in the face. I
cant eat with them white people, Marster. I would do
anything to obey or obleege you, sir, but I'll starve ef I
stays here long."

" Why, I supposed," said I, " that you were by this
time accustomed to associating with white servants in
London."

" Tell you what, Marster, they wasn't like the sarvants
here. The men didn't have them long-tailed blues on,
with lace, and buttons, and eperlettes, and the women
didn't look so nice and spectable."

" Never mind," said I, " I will 'arrange it all for you ;
only do try and make yourself as little the object of ridi-
cule as possible."

Thereupon I pulled the bell, and taking' the servant into
my confidence, told him how unaccustomed to eating at
the same table with white persons my servant had been,
and how embarrassed he was by it, asked him to give my
respects to the steward, and request in my name that
Buck might have his meals apart from the other servants.
The attendant readily promised that this should be done,
and Buck was relieved.

I cannot afford room for an adequate description of the

park, gardens, and scenery around A Hall. Some

pleasant winter night, Major, when the children have
been snugly tucked away, and Mary and Lizzie have
thrust their small gourds into the little stocking-feet, and
are darning away against each other as if for a wager,
and our cigars are lit, and the hickory fire, kindled with
light-wood knots (they have no such luxury here, Major),
blazes up cheerfully, I will tell you all about it. I can
now only say that the park contains more than a thou-
sand acres, and that the slight sketch I have already
given you of it has not done it half justice. I do not
know of what architecture the house is, and if I did you
would not care much about it ; but this I know — that the
general effect is most admirable.

We visited the stables, and there I was greatly inte-
rested. There were some fifty horses, many of which
were hunters, exquisite in form, etc., and of very high

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

value. The stalls are well ventilated, and as neat and
clean as parlor floors. The arrangements for feeding and
grooming are very fine, and I learned something there by
which I hope hereafter to profit. We next went to the
cow-yards, and the dairy ; and there I gathered some new
ideas for the benefit of our wives, Major. We then pro-
ceeded to examine the tool-houses, the stack-yards, and
the sheep-folds ; and taking horse here, we rode into the
pastures and the fields. We visited scores and scores of
acres of turnips and other green crops, and I received
much valuable information from my host, which I propose
to share with you one of these days.

At a point which had been designated by my enter-
tainer we met the gamekeeper, and with him the gentle-
men whom I have mentioned. There were three or four
fine dogs, and a gun for each of us. We first shot over
some stubble-fields, and afterwards entered the preserves,
where we soon filled our bags. I am but an indifferent
shot, you know ; but I found myself knocking the sluggish
game over, right and left, with great ease. The bird-
shooting, especially, was very different from what you and
I are accustomed to, when hunting our partridge. Here
we put up half-a-dozen coveys of partridge or packs of
pheasants in an hour, and started scores of rabbits. The
birds are almost double the size of our partridge or quail,
and are not so swift in flight. If, at home, you and I find
as many coveys in a day, and after walking many miles,
we deem ourselves lucky. And when our birds get up,
they are off, like a shot, for the nearest swamp. A few
separate shots may possibly be had after that, but it will
have to be bush-shooting.

One or two of the party killed more game than I ; but

I had the satisfaction of bagging more than Lord B ,

though he had visited our country (as he said), and had
shot upon our prairies. The truth is, none of my com-
panions in sport were very expert marksmen ; and I could
not help thinking, that, if our friends, Jennings and Daw-
son, of Augusta, (provided the latter can shoot as well as
he can talk about it, of which I have my doubts, I con-
fess,) were turned loose here for a day or two, they would
soon make deserts of Mr. A 's preserves.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

We did not return to the Hall, from our morning's
excursion, until the hour for luncheon had passed. We
were not forgotten, however ; and, after we had refreshed
ourselves, were notified, that that meal — which really
takes the place of the dinner with' us, though most of the
dishes are cold — was ready for us.

After our lunch, we adjourned to the smoking-room.
"We had just lit our cigars, when I observed that other
gentlemen, who were tenants of the room and enjoying
the same luxury, had been attracted to the windows by
something which seemed greatly to please them. Pre-
sently I detected Buck's well-known voice, and perceived
that he was amusing some one outside with an imitation
of the banjo, as I supposed. The strumming by way of
interlude, at which I knew he was something of an expert,
came to my ear very plainly ; and then I could hear his
" thrumb-te-thrumb-a-thrumb-te-thrumb-a - thrumb-te-
thrumb" — so rapidly articulated, that I suspected he was
giving an imitation of a negro jig.

"Ah ! what is this? " said my host, who also joined
the group at one of the windows ; and his face at once
assumed the pleased expression which appeared in the
features of the other spectators. I went to one of the
windows then myself, and found that the apartment was
in a wing of the building which opened upon a parterre,
rich with evergreen shrubbery, (and, I suppose, in due
season, with brilliant flowers,) and lying between this and
an opposite wing of the house, in which was situated a
conservatory, that also opened upon the parterre. Near

the conservatory, Mrs. A , her daughters, and other

ladies, were seated ; and on one of the gravelled walks,
which bordered the parterre, Buck was in the midst of the
maddest sort of a jig, scattering the gravel, and hurling
some of it to a distance of many yards, with his broad
feet. He made music for himself with the voice, accom-
panied with appropriate fingering on one of the young
ladies' parasols, which he held in the attitude of a banjo.
His performance was rapturously applauded ; and then
one of my host's daughters, a pretty young girl, with a
merry twinkle in her eye, said to him — " Mamma is very
5 D

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

much obliged to you Mr. Buck, for the dance : but can't
you sing for us, Mr. Buck ? "

Buck. "To be sure an sartain, young missis, ef I only
know'd what 'ud suit you. Do you like hymes, missis ? "

Young Lady. (Looking at the other ladies, who ex-
changed glances of puzzled inquiry.) " What was it you
said, Mr. Buck ? I am not sure that I understood you —
hy-ems did you say."

Buck. " No ! hymes, missis : preachin songs — praisin
God songs, young missis."

Y. Lady. "Ah ! I understand. No, not sacred songs,
Mr. Buck. We would prefer a sentimental song, if you
please."

Buck. (Puzzled in his turn.) "A what, missis ?"

Y. Lady. "A song in praise of the ladies, Mr. Buck."

Buck. " To be sure, to be sure, missis. But in course
hits 'bout the black fair sect you 'spect a nigger to sing —
aint it, missis ?"

Y. Lady. " Of course, Mr. Buck."

Thereupon Buck thrumbed his fictitious banjo, and sung
as follows :

My horse died in Tennessee,

He sont his jaw-bone back to me,

Wake, jaw-bone, Miss Sally is the gal !
Oh wake, jaw-bone, Miss Sally is the gal !

Dat jaw-bone same like banjo ring,
When to Miss Sally gal I sing
Wake, jaw-bone, &c.

Miss Sally 's fat and mighty round ;
The holler o' her foot make hole in de ground.
Wake, jaw-bone, &c.

Buck. " How you like 'um, young missis ?'
Y. Lady. " Oh, thank you — very well, indeed; but can't
you give us another, Mr. Buck ?'

BUCK SINGS.

I sing this song 'bout woolly har,
Oh, the woolly har !

BTLLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

The buckra gal is mighty far,

Oh, the woolly har !
But still she no got woolly har !

Oh, the woolly har !
The buckra gal got long red har,

Oh, the woolly har !
When she put on dress, she put on ar,

Oh, the woolly har !
The yaller gal got coal-black har,

Oh, the woolly har !
She tall, and straight, -and mighty spar,

Oh, the woolly har !
But my sweetheart 's got woolly har

Oh, the woolly har !
An none can with that gal conipar,

Oh, the woolly har !
I sleeps an dreams 'bout woolly har,

Oh, the woolly har !
An on my heart I wars that har,

Oil, the woolly har !
The woolly har, the woolly har,

6 — h, the w-oo-l-l-y har !

This song was encored, and then one of the ladies
asked Buck if he could not give them another specimen
of a dance.

" Sartain, Missis," said he, putting down the parasol.
" Did you ever see Juba, Missis ?"

" No," said the lady ; " we should like to have it, if you
please."

But when Buck commenced his preparations, she drew
back timidly, as if suspecting that she had bargained for
too much, and was about to witness some cannibal dance
or other. He began by rapidly patting, or clapping the
sides of his thighs with the palms of his hands, and at
the same time patting his foot, as if to give himself the
pitch, and then he pitched, feet foremost, into "Juba,"
accompanying himself with the voice.

0 Juba Reed,
0 Juba Reed,
His seed and breed,
M'Elhany turn and come!

THE SLAVEHOLDEE ABROAD; OR,

I siut de coon,

I sint de coon,

T sint ole bar,

A skippin down

To Lonnon town,

To judge de banjo

Thuin de sound.

I saw de rat

Run round de flat,

A bushel o' beans

Upon his back,

Au ole Ben Dean

His gander trot :
Cant he git over !
John-de-butter-in-de-fat,
Cant you git over that ?
Cant you git o — ver ?
Oh, cant you git "

Just at this point, the dancer, whose back had been
towards the window where I stood, the sash of which was
raised for the purpose of better witnessing his perform-
ance, who had not seen me, and did not know, probably,
that I had returned to the house, turned in his movement,
so as to catch sight of me, when he instantly brought up,
as if struck with paralysis, exclaiming, "Boss!" and
remaining with his mouth upon a wide grin, his right foot
put forward, the heel thrust into the gravel, with the
foot itself elevated at an angle of about ninety degrees.
It looked, sure enough, as though he was answering his
own question, and couldn't get over that. The immense
roar of laughter which succeeded was either a testimony
to his very ridiculous situation, or a tribute to his decided
success.

It was plain that my presence was as a wet blanket to

his fun ; so I left the window, saying, "Ah, Mr. A ,

I am afraid that the ale at his lunch to-day has succeeded
in lightening my man's heels at the expense of his head."

" Why, you don't mean to say with Cicero, 1 nemo so-
brius saltat,' do you, Doctor?"

" No ; only that the sobrius never throws quite so much
'life and metal ' into his saltat, Mr. A ."

" 'Itaque Semproniam reprehendit Sallustius non
quod saltare, sed quod optima sciret,' " said Lord B.;

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

which, being translated for the benefit of the country
members, Major, is about equivalent to saying that " Sal-
lust found fault with Sempronius, not because he knew
how to dance, but because he did it so elegantly." Very
neat jest, was it not? Still, all this did not relieve me
from the apprehension that Buck might be making a fool
of himself in the eyes of these people."

I was informed at dinner that he had been very enter-
taining, though all his performance after he had seen me
was obviously under restraint,, as if he suspected that I

was .observing him from some quarter. Mrs. A said

that she asked of him the reason for his embarrassment,
and what do you suppose the ro*gue answered ?

" Why you see, Missis," said he, " I promised Miss
Lizzie to keep good care of my Marster while he was in
this country, an he's mighty onprudent sometimes, Missis,
an keeps me oncommon busy puttin him through right ;
an ef I was to let him see me play in the fool too much, he
wouldn't think me so spectable like, an might refuse to
mind me, Missis."

Mrs. A informed me that, during the morning, she

had sent for Buck, and had talked with him about our
slaves, negro life, negro characteristics, etc.; and that
after lunch she had encouraged him to sing and dance for
the ladies.

This afternoon I spent in the library, and among the
pictures, statuary, etc., in other parts of the house ; of
which there is a very splendid collection. At night, I
retired early to my room, that I might write this letter to
you. To-morrow we are booked for C. Park, to witness
a run with Sir C. C.'s hounds. This gentleman has been
on a visit to this place for the last several days. He left
this morning, first inviting Mr. A — — and his guests to
the hunt, and to dinner to-morrow. If anything takes
place there worthy of note, you may expect to hear from
me on the subject. Apologizing for this long letter, I end
it with the assurance that I am, dear Major,

Respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,
To Maj. Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Gra., U. S. of America.
5*

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ; OR,

LETTER VI.

DR. JONES AND HIS SERVANT JOIN A FOX-HUNT BUCK DIS-
TINGUISHES HIMSELF ON THE FIELD — IS IN AT THE DEATH,

AND WINS THE TAIL VISIT TO C. PARK RECIPE FOR

COOKING " POSSUM AND PUMPKIN" BUCK'S STORY OF

UNCLE CUDJO AND THE POSSUM."

A Hall, November 6th, 1851.

Dear Major : — Yesterday morning, after quite an

early breakfast, Mr. A and his guests, myself and

Buck among the number, proceeded to the meet of Sir

C. C.'s hounds. Mr. A was so kind as to mount me

on one of his swiftest and surest hunters, though I was
quite willing to bestride a less splendid animal; for I
had no idea of making an effort to keep up with the hunt.
Though I account myself a tolerable horseman, yet, to
say nothing of my health, which may have rendered it
inexpedient, I had no desire for leaping hedges, ditches,
etc., where there was any risk attending it. Every man
to his vocation. I was not accustomed to the thing, and
I knew how much of advantage there is in being familiar
with whatsoever we undertake to accomplish. Buck, who
was specially invited, made choice of a fleet mare, rather
against my wishes ; for, though I knew he could ride like
a wild Indian, yet I thought it seemly that he should be
more modestly mounted, and I feared that he might be
after making himself rather conspicuous — an apprehen-
sion which proved correct.

At the place of meeting, we found Sir C. C. and his
friends, with a large retinue of tenants and neighbors,
ladies in carriages, etc. More than a hundred horsemen
were present. The gentlemen generally were dressed in
bright scarlet coats, white leather breeches, top-boots,
silver-mounted spurs, and round hats. The master of the
hunt was the baronet himself. The huntsman and the

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

wliippors-in wore short red coats and jockey-caps, and the
huntsman carried a horn. There was a large number of
laborers and cottagers on foot. It was evident that the
fox-hunt was quite an institution of itself in England, and
I was greatly interested. A pack of fox-hounds was in
attendance, numbering more than thirty couples. Sir C. C,
it seems, is celebrated for the excellence of his breed, and
the condition of his kennel. His dogs have a superin-
tendent huntsman and assistants. They are fed on scalded
oat-meal, I was told. The dogs were all under rigid and
accurate discipline. The huntsman or whippers-in could
call a dog by name, and he would come out at once from
the pack. If any quarrelling "and fighting occurred, a
crack from the whip was instantly productive of peace.

When all was ready, the signal was given, and we
started. We penetrated into many thick copses, and the
huntsmen beat about with their whips in various direc-
tions, until at last a fox was found, and started from his
cover ; and then away the whole cavalcade went, helter-
skelter, a scene of mad hurry-scurry and excitement. I

stuck to Mr. A , who said that he was well acquainted

with the country, and, by taking advantage of the ground,
and steering skilfully, could sometimes cut off the chase,
and thus save me some hard riding. This was just what
I wished, and I was thus saved some ugly leaps ; though

as it was, following Mr. A , I thought I did very well

in that respect several times. At first the pace was rapid.
The hounds ran well together, and the effect of their
united voices was very fine. We had emerged from the
coverts, and gone into the open, as they called it, and for
some time we had a very exciting race. But presently
we reached another covert, and here another fox was dis-
turbed, and the huntsmen missed the first, the fresh fox
going off at right angles to our first chase, and leading
us into other coverts, where other foxes were started ; and
this caused us to go jolting around undecidedlv for some
time, and with the pack very much divided. Sir C. man-
aged, however, in some way, to bring order out of this
chaos, and away we went again, men and dogs well toge-
ther, upon one track. The fox this time was a fine dark-
looking fellow, and Sir C. almost lifted him off the ground

5G THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD " OR,

with a fierce scream as he broke away. We followed in
fine style for half an hour or so, when we came to some
uneven ground, and Sir p.,, pulling up for an instant,
cried out to the nearest whipper-in, " Where's he bound
there way, Dick?"

" Over the river, sir, to the wood, I think. There is
some open earth there."

" We must be there before him, and stop that, if it
costs our necks," said the baronet, as he rode off rapidly.

But Dick seemed unwilling to go along ; and hanging
back, he cried out, "Have a care, sir; the water's deep
there, and too wide to jump."

" Won't I try it, though !" we heard the baronet say,
as he dashed the spurs into his horse and increased his
speed.

Buck, who had been riding along with this whipper-in,
now sprang to the ground, rapidly slipped his saddle from
the horse, tied it by stirrup-leathers and girth round his
shoulders and waist, quickly mounted again, pushed the
spurs into his mare, and away he went, the only person
who followed Sir C.

We rode near enough to sec the baronet dash at the
stream, and strike the water not more than three-fourths
the distance across ; but his horse carried him gallantly
through. Buck presently reached the bank, and pulled
up short. He had not looked for that — but his blood was
heated with the excitement, and he instantly turned
his mare to a short distance, drove the spurs into her,
and slap he went, into the swampy mud on the other side.
A cheer from Sir C, who had turned his head to watch
him, greeted the successful effort, and Buck scrambled
through the meadows, and was soon at his side upon dry
ground. The fox was headed, and turned up the stream,
along which, on our side, we rode until we reached a
bridge, which we crossed, and followed the chase. The
fox doubled presently, and we were all brought together
again. Buck continued to ride near Sir C., and took
every leap which he did. After about half an hour, the
fox was put into a thick hedge-row, and had us at fault
for a few minutes, when out he came, on our side, and a
"Tally-ho!" from Mr. A brought attention to him.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

The baronet and Buck, who were on the other side, both
put at the hedge. This time the baronet went clear ; but
Buck's mare bothered, and down they went, rolling over
together. They both quickly scrambled up, however ; and
to my great satisfaction, I saw Buck swing his saddle
round, it having gotten in front of him, and lightly mount
again. We scampered away then along the side of a
hill, into a thick wood, from which wTe soon emerged, and
away we went, all very much together, through a pretty
piece of open. Here the whole- field cheered Buck, who
was still riding near the baronet, and now without his
hat, having lost it in his tumble, and being at the time
under too much excitement to stop and look for it.

We came again, after a little time, among the hedges
and fields ; and again Sir C. and Buck rapidly took the
lead — Sir C. occasionally trying the stuff of which his
sable neighbor was made, as he subsequently informed us,
by taking some rasping leaps.

" By Jove, sir !" said the baronet, " I make no doubt
but the man would have put his mare at the steeple of St.
Paul's, if he had seen me preparing to try it. He is
plucky, sir; plucky as the mare he rode."

After an hour or so more of heavy pursuit, the fox was
run into. The baronet and Buck were the first on the
spot. A few others arrived in time to claim the honor of

being in at the death. When Mr. A and I arrived,

the crisis was passed, and the fox was given to the dogs —
all except the tail ; which Sir C. had insisted on wreathing
as a trophy into the red bandanna handkerchief with which
Buck had bound up his head in the absence of his hat. He
was a comical figure to look at. He was covered from
head to foot with mud and dirt, the saddle continued
to swing from his shoulders, and the handkerchief and
fox-tail were only needed to complete the picture. He
gave effect to it by being apparently unconscious that he
was such a figure of fun, and by showing his brilliant
teeth in an ecstacy of delight.

We had a long ride back to C. Park, and I was very
much fagged out by the time we arrived there. I must
confess that I was fully satisfied never again to seek sport
in an English fox-hunt. The chase, however, was very

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

much enjoyed by all my companions. It was declared to

be a famous good thing; and all united in laughing at
Buck's riding, and in praising his pluck.

The dinner was very much like that A Hall.

There was a little more of display, and very much more
of hilarity ; but the latter may have been owing to the
exciting events of the day. After the ladies had retired,
our host had Buck sent for, and proposed that he should
join us in drinking a glass of punch to his health, first
stirring his own with the tail of the captured fox.

" You have been much accustomed to riding, my man,"
said the baronet.

" Well you see, Marster, I been use to ridin sense I
was so high " (holding his hand about three feet from the
floor). "I been use to breakin all Marster 's colts, sir;
and I is jest fool enough to think I can do what any other
man kin on a horse's back, perwided I haint pestered
with a saddle, sir. So, when I seed you takin the shine
off of everybody in the hunt, and that none on um was
gwine to take a brush with you, sir, I jest tuk the saddle
off the mar, and put after you with a sharp stick myself
sir, for the honor of old Georgy, Marster."

" Well, the honor of old Georgia has suffered nothing
in your hands, my man. But don't you join the hunt
sometimes in your country?"

u Our marsters sometimes hunts deers and foxes, sir ;
but we black folks never hunts any varmints but rabbits
and possums, Marster."

"Opossums; aha!" said the baronet; and then, ad-
dressing himself to me, " they are abundant in your
country, Doctor ?"

"Not so much so," said I, "as in Australia; but still,
in sufficient numbers to constitute quite an object of sport
with our slaves, who hunt them at night, and by torch-
light, and with whom they are quite a favorite article of
food."

" What do they taste like?" said he to Buck.
" Like fat pig, Marster ; only more piggerer than pig
heself — cepin when they's cooked in a punkin, sir."
" Cooked in a pumpkin ! How is that ?"
"Why you see, Marster, that's one of the ways we

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

black folks haves of cookin possum ; an powerful good
way it is, too."

" Pray tell us how that's done," said the baronet.

"Well, Marster, you must ketch your possum, you
know "

" That, at all events," interrupted the baronet, u is be-
ginning according to Mrs. Glass. I have no doubt but
that it is very good. Go on, sir."

" Yes, sir. As I was sayin, when you have kotch him
an cleaned him, jest take a punkin, bout big enough to
lay him in comftably, Marster, thout dublin him up too
much, sir ; then take a knife an cut your punkin through
the middle, all round, in an out, sir, so that when you
take it apart each half has sorter teeth like ; then clean
your punkin out, sir, put your possum in, sprinkle some
salt an pepper on him, — raal kyan pepper, ef you's got it,
sir, — then put your punkin together agin close, an like it
was fore you tuk it apart ; then put it in the fire, an kiver
it over with ashes an live coals, an let it stay an roast a
good many hours — the longer the better, so you don't let
it burn. Arter it's done, sir, you kin take it out, an wipe
it clean, an let it cool a little ; an when you open it sir,
it's amost the nicest thing that ever you did eat. You
see, sir, the possum's sorter sorbed the punkin, an the
punkin's sorbed the possum, tell, I declar pint blank,
sir, ef you shet your eyes, you can't say which is the pos-
sum an which the punkin."

" I haven't a doubt in the world of it now," said the
baronet, "and will maintain it against all comers."

" Yes, sir. One Mars. Bob Martin larnt me how to
cook it that way, sir. Some o' them Green County nig-
gers larnt him, he said."

" But supposing you haven't got a pumpkin for your
opossum, my man ; what then?" said the baronet.

" Then we jest roasts him dry so, Marster."

"Aha ! dry so ; and is it really good, dry so ?"

"So good, Marster," said Buck, "that the only time
I been steal anything sense I was a child, was when I
stole some roast possum-meat, sir. Ef you could ford to
listen to me, Marster, and the geu'Ymen, I'd tell you
bout it," said he, his tongue now wagging under the

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

stimulus of his fox-tail punch, though he looked distrust-
ingly at me.

" By all means," cried the company, "let us have Mr.
Buck's possum story."
I glanced consent.

"Well, genTmen," he said, "when I was bout a man
grown, I staid in the same cabin with one o' Marster's ole
niggers, named Uncle Cudjer." [Old Cudjo, whom you no
doubt well remember, Major.] "Well, one night Uncle
Cudjer he was gwine a possum-huntin, an he axed me to
go long with him ; but I had some other fish to fry that
night, an so I wouldn't go with him. But Uncle Cudjer
he went an kotch a possum right soon, for he allers could
do it. Somehow anuther, when he an ole Ring went out
to hunt for um, the possums stood no more chance than a
stump-tail b — — than a ole red fox with you arter him, I
mean, Marster." [Bowing to the baronet.] "An so he
brought his possum home, cleaned it, put his pepper and
salt on it, put it in his little oven, made fire onder it, an
then, bein he was sorter tired by this time, he went fast
to sleep. Well, late at night I come home ; an when I
went in, thar was the ole man, sound asleep. I raised up
the led of the little oven, an piff — paff — out thar come
sich a nice, rich, roast-pig sort o' smell, hit made my
mouth farly water agin. The possum was done elegant ;
an then close by the ole man's platter was a nice corn
dodger, waitin for the possum. Hit was late sense sup-
per, I had had a long walk in the cool night ar, an was
raaJ hungry, an the sight was too much for my vartue,
Marster. I tuk the ole man's possum, sir, I did, (hit
warn't very big, sir,) an eat it all up. Then I tuk some
o'the grease, an sorter saftly rubbed it all over his mouth,
sir, an over his hands, sir, an then I washed my own, an
laid down an went to sleep myself. Bombye, Uncle Cudjer
he waked up, he did, and looked for his possum, an sure
enough hit warn't thar. Then he shuck me, he did, tell
he waked me up. 1 You Buck,' says he, 'you gran lascal,
you been tiefy my possum — heh ? Git up ; I gwine lick
you, you infarnal tief, you !'

"<vWhy what's matter, Uncle Cudjer?' says I.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

* 1 You tiefy my possum, I say — you been eat my pos-
sum, sar."

u Why Uncle Cudjer, what's matter ? Are you crazy ?"
says I. " You been eat your possum youseli. Jest look
at your hands and your mouth," says I.

Uncle Cudjer, he looked at his hands, then he drawed
the back of one on um cross his mouth, then he put both
on um upon his stomach.

" Gor-a-mighty !" sa}rs he, "wat dis? Me harn say

I been eat um, me mouf say I eat um, me tumach say

he dam lie !"

Under cover of the applause whjch Buck's story elicited,
I suggested to him that it was a good time to withdraw ;
which hint he was not slow in taking.

We had a merry evening, and joined the ladies at a late
hour. These latter I found to be very gentle and at-
tractive. The truth is, Major, the nobility and gentry of
this country, as a class, are perhaps the most refined and
intellectual in the world. The concentration of immense
wealth in, and the passage of it through, the hands of the
same family for generations, affords opportunities of cul-
tivating tastes, and creating material comforts, which
serve, in these respects, to place the class of which I am
speaking far in advance of anything with which we are ac-
quainted. In extensive and magnificent luxury, in style, in
arrangements for domestic and household comforts, in the
beauty of grounds, and the grandeur of public works, we
can bear no comparison with this country. But I am afraid
that the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few,
(by comparison,) which is the main-spring of all these
results, at the same time causes more or less of an abstrac-
tion of it from the hands of the many ; and thus produces
such a disturbance in the laws of harmony which regulate
the body politic, as must in some way lessen the advan-
tages, and affect the happiness of the masses who com-
pose it. This seems to be the logical inference. I hope
that experience may convince me of its inaccuracy. It
will certainly give me great pleasure to find that there is
no reason why I should regret the existence of a state of
things which is productive of so many pleasant and excel-
lent persons — so many true ladies and gentlemen.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

To-day T returned to A Hall. To-morrow, or next

day, I shall leave for London. Meantime, I am,
Very respectfully,

Y'r ob't serv't and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Gra., U. S. of America.

LETTER VII.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY AND MRS. STOWE

SPEECHES AT THE MEETING OF THIS SOCIETY, BY PROF.

STOWE AND REV. S. WARD, (A NEGRO,) AND COMMENTS OF

BUCK THEREUPON BUCK AMUSES HIMSELF WITH A PART

OF THE AUDIENCE.

London, June 1st, 1853.

Dear Major : — In a letter written last month, I gave
you some account of Mrs. Stowe's movements, and of the
excitement on the subject of slavery which her presence
has caused in England and Scotland. She has now made
her appearance in London, and has been honored by all
classes in the metropolis.

On Monday evening, the 16th of May, the British and
Foreign Anti-Slavery Society held their annual meeting
at Exeter Hall; and she and her staff, viz., Prof. Stowe,
(her husband,) Charles Beecher, (her brother,) and the
Rev. Samuel Ward, (a blackamoor from Canada,) were the
leading cards played upon that occasion. Owing to the
expected presence of Mrs. Stowe, there was a very
crowded assembly, and numbers were unable to obtain
admittance. By making an early start, however, Buck
and I were there in time to procure a convenient seat. I
took Buck along, not only because I was in the habit of
taking him with me very frequently to places of amuse-
ment in London, but because I hoped that, if I found the
demand for seats greater than the supply, his black face,
on that particular occasion, might be of service in pro-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

curing me admittance and a desirable position. Although
we obtained rather a modest place in one of the galleries,
yet Buck was put down, I suppose, by all who observed
him, as having something to do with the occasion ; and
this created such a sensation in his neighborhood as
caused him to show his great white teeth with delight.

I will furnish you with an account of the proceedings
as they were published in the London Observer of the
23d of May last ; omitting, for brevity's sake, the rather
long speech of the Earl of Shaftsbury, who presided over
the meeting, and addressed it, so soon as it was organized.

" BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

On Monday evening, the annual meeting of this Society was
held in Exeter Hall. Owing to the expected presence of Mrs.
H. B. Stowe, there was a most inconveniently crowded attend-
ance, and numbers of persons were unable to gain admittance.

The Earl of Shaftesbury presided.

The Secretary attempted to read the report, but, in conse-
quence of the impatience of the meeting, confined himself to
briefly stating the income and expenditure of the Society for
the past year.

The Rev. J. B. Browne moved the adoption of the report,
and the appointment of the Committee for the ensuing year.
[Whilst he was speaking, Mrs. H. B. Stowe entered one of the
side galleries, and the assembly rose and cheered her loudly
for several minutes.]

The Rev. W. Arthur seconded the resolution, which was
unanimously adopted.

Mr. Joseph Sturge read the names of the Committee, and
of the corresponding members of the Society: viz., Professor
Stowe, of Massachusetts [cheers], Charles Beecher [cheers],
and Samuel Ward, of Canada [cheers].

The Rev. Wr. Brook moved the resolution that the mainte-
nance of slavery in a Christian community was a disgrace to
humanity, a dishonor to civilization, and an outrage u on reli-
gion ; and that Christians of all denominations should raise
their voice to condemn an iniquity so monstrous, and "to em-
ploy all moral and pacific means to effect its removal."

The Rev. Samuel Ward, of Canada (a negro), seconded the
resolution, and was received with applause. He argued
strongly against a principle which had been laid down, that

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

money compensation should be made to slaveholders as a con-
dition of the emancipation of their slaves, and stigmatized it
as a compounding of sin, and declared that a slaveholder who
freed his slave was only a repentant sinner, and was no more
entitled to be paid in money for his repentance than any other
sinner. He maintained that the cotton trade of England
nourished the slave labor of America. He urged that slavery
in America was maintained more by the guilty neglect of the
North than the positive acts of the South ; for the North had
always -had a majority in Congress, and had assented to all the
laws relating to slavery which had been passed there. He
then contended that this conduct of the people in the North
arose from the feeling and prejudice against all negroes in the
United States ; and in speaking of negro pews in churches
and chapels, said he knew ministers who had lately been at
meetings in that hall who had such pews in their churches. He
related an anecdote of one William Hamilton, a negro, who,
being refused by a minister the administration of the commu-
nion before whites, became an atheist ; while, on the other
hand, he related an anecdote of the conversion of a negro
woman by means of a lady who had no such prejudices, and
declared that negro woman to have been his own wife [cheers].
He stated that, so great was the prejudice, that a negro who,
at the battle of Bunker's Hill, had greatly distinguished him-
self, was always placed in the background, behind the whites,
in all the pictures of that battle. He stated also that, on his
coming to England, Mr. Cunard had refused to allow him to
take his meals with the other passengers on board the steamer,
out of deference to the prejudices of Americans ; and stated
that to be an illustration of the influence of slaveholders even
upon Englishmen. The reverend gentleman made altogether
a very powerful and effective speech, and sat down amidst loud
applause.

Mr. Alexander here read apologies for absence from Lord
Carlisle and from Count Lavradio, the Portuguese Ambas-
sador.

The resolution was carried unanimously.

Professor Stowe, who was received with great cheering,
read the next resolution, which declared it to be the duty of
the opponents of slavery "to develop the national resources
of countries where slavery does not exist, and the soil of which
is adapted to the growth of products— especially of cotton —
all or partially raised by slave labor ; that, in all cases where
it is practicable, a decided preference should be given to the

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

products of free labor, by all who protest against slavery."
His (Professor Stowe's) health would disable him from ad-
dressing them at length, but he had to make a few observa-
tions. At the close of the American Revolutionary War, all
their States were slaveholding States. But the Bill of Rights
declared all men free and equal ; and a slave in Massachusetts
was advised, under the Bill of Bights, to bring an action for
wages ; and having obtained a verdict in his favor, slavery at
once fell to the ground in that State. In the Convention,
Jefferson, Madison, and others from the South, were so sensi-
tive on the subject that they would not allow the word slave to
appear in any of their proceedings, and Franklin participated
in that feeling. Jay, Hopkins, and Edwards promulgated it
from the pulpit, aud no one then would support slavery. When
he (Professor Stowe) was a boy, black children were in the
same school with him in Massachusetts ; and, though some
prejudice had existed, the state of things was not then as it
is now. In 1820, the great assembly of the Presbyterian
Church passed a resolution against slavery. But that feeling
was now changed. What had changed it ? It was the pro-
fitableness of the cotton trade, and nothing else [hear]. It
was that which spread the chain of slavery over the Union
[hear]. What right, then, had Great Britain to interfere,
when she sustained four-fifths of American slavery by taking
four-fifths of the American cotton [hear] ? A Charleston
newspaper had justly said that " the world depended on the
cotton of America, and that cotton fought and conquered for
Southern slavery." Here, then, was a great work for England
to do ! The price for cotton regulated the price of slaves, and
slaves were worth from £100 to £200 each, and, in order to
stock a cotton plantation, it took 100, 200, 300, and even 400
slaves. What an amount of capital was required ! Here was
the point at which free labor, such as had been found in the
importation of Chinese, could contend with slave labor; and
Great Britain should encourage the growth of free-labor cot-
ton. There were three ways by which slavery in the United
States could be abolished — first, by bloody revolution, which
no one desired; secondly, by persuading slaveholders that the
system was wrong, and that they should give it up ; and
thirdly, by making slave labor unprofitable as compared with
free labor. Let free labor be encouraged ; aud if cotton con-
sumers did not get rich so fast by free as by slave labor, let
them practise a little of the self-denial which they ask slave-
holders to practise. He had visited England seventeen years
6* E

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

ago, and he found it now much improved, and a strong feeling
of philanthropy existed amongst the higher towards the labor-
ing classes. He concluded by expressing his hope, though he
did not expect to live to see it, that slavery would be soon
abolished in America. He would live and die laboring in the
cause of abolition [cheers].

Mr. C. Beecher seconded the resolution, which was carried
unanimously.

Mrs. Stowe and her husband and brother here retired amidst
loud acclamations.

Colonel P. Thompson then moved a resolution deprecating
the American laws in favor of slavery, — especially the "fugi-
tive slave law," — and recognizing the new spirit infused into
the literature of the day, " holding up slavery to universal
reprobation."

The resolution was carried unanimously, and the meeting
separated.

Well, you may imagine, Major, that it was as much as
I could do to sit still, and hear and witness all that was
there said and done. I doubt if I should have succeeded
in doing so, but for the amusement which Buck's wag-
gish looks and comments afforded. By the time of this
meeting, he had grown accustomed to going into public
assemblies with me upon something of equal terms with
those present, and he did not have that air of embarrass-
ment which at first he wore when compelled by the crowd
to place himself immediately by my side. Even here he
contrived to keep himself somewhat in the background ;
not so much so, however, but that I could see the comi-
cal expression of his face occasionally, when enjoying, as
I really do believe he did, the impression which he per-
ceived the whole affair was making on me. His running
commentaries on the proceedings amused not only me,
but all who were in hearing of him.

When his reverence, the black preacher, was descant-
ing upon the prejudices of our Northern people against
negroes, Buck exclaimed, sotto voce, but still loud enough
to be heard all around him, yet with the utmost gravity,
and looking fixedly at the speaker,

" Dat first-rate gemmon say belly true — white buckra
allers hate nigger till da git usen to smell um."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. G7

And when the same reverend gentleman complained
of the separate pews and galleries reserved for colored
people in the churches, " Ki !" said Buck, " dat gemmon
talk all sem like fool now. . He no know dat cost too
much for buckra to set longside nigger — dem brokee de-
sef buyin smellin-bottle."

Again, when Mr. Stowe advised the production of free-
labor cotton, as the most effectual method of overthrow-
ing slavery, Buck chuckled mightily, and exclaimed " Dat
buckra gemmon talkee de fool now hesef. Wa da been
gwine git anybody able to work in cotton-field, in brilin
hot sun, but black nigger ? I want know dat ! An
wa de debbil da gwine find nigger wid head to work wid-
out buckra man to show um ? or dat gwine be willin,
cepin he druv ?"

Notwithstanding the occasional play of Buck's drollery,
when I heard it resolved by Englishmen and Scotchmen
"that slavery was a disgrace to humanity, a dishonor to
civilization, and an outrage upon religion," and that it
should be held up " to universal reprobation," I began to
feel that this was getting rather personal, and I found
myself repeating the old saw, that " those who live in
glass houses should not throw stones," and to think that
this nation should be slow to hold up any other people to
reprobation on account of faults in their social system,
as that was " a game which two could play at," and their
side might not always have the "innings."

I lingered near the outer doors of the hall after the
meeting had adjourned, for the purpose of having a closer
view of Mrs. Stowe. I somehow failed in this. But as
we stood there, a party of several ladies and gentlemen
stationed themselves near us, perhaps for the same pur-
pose, possibly attracted by Buck, whom they may have
been observing, or whom they may have imagined con-
stituted a part of the " fire-works " of the evening.
Buck's spirit of mischief was excited so soon as he dis-
covered that their attention was directed to him. Some
one hard by spoke of pickpockets, and of the propriety
of being on guard against them in such a crowd.

"Massa," said Buck, taking off his hat, and speaking
so as to be heard by the party to whom I have referred,

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ) OR,

and casting a glance of alarm upon persons near him,
" hear dat ?"

Myself. 11 Hear what, Buck ?"

Buck. " Hear what dem buckra men say ? Dem say
de tiefs about."

Myself. 11 It don't matter. I left my valuables at our
lodgings, and have none with me."

Buck. " Wat dat you say, Massa ? You no call me
valbles ? Ainty Massa nigger valble ? — what for da no
tiefy me ? [Taking hold of one of my skirts, and turning
to a lady who stood near him, and addressing her with
great courtesy and earnestness.] " Missis, you tink da
would tiefy dis nigger ?"

Myself. " Pshaw, Buck, what do you mean ?"

It had occurred to me that Buck was attempting some
very dull fun ; but at this instance I caught sight of his
face, and I saw at once that there was something better
in prospect, so I gave him an encouraging look. A pale
and solemn gentleman standing by, with a white cravat,
and otherwise looking like a dissenting minister, now
said to Buck, " What would the thieves want with you in
this country, my man?"

This opening was precisely what Buck was wanting.

Buck. [With affected surprise.] " Want wid me, Mas-
sa ? Ainty dis Inglis people been tiefy slave ? Ainty da
ladder been tiefy my fadder, an sell urn in Charlestown ?
Ainty de fadder been tiefy de fadder for make him slave ?
What for de son no tiefy de son, for make him free ?
Heh?"

This produced not a little merriment among the by-
standers, who had by this time increased; but they looked
as though they were puzzled in the effort to comprehend
Buck, and to tell whether he was jesting or not. The
same solemn gentleman said, " You are a slave, then ?"

Buck. "To be sure, to be sure, Massa ! An I want to
stay slave. Missis," [again turning to the lady, in whose
eye he now saw encouragement,] " Missis, you fadder
tiefy my faddor for him to live in good country, me feared
you people tiefy Massa nigger for him to live in dis mean
country — mea/i all sem as gar-broth — beg pardon, Missis,
ef you blongs to hit."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

Lady. " Why do you think this country so mean, my
man ?"

Buck. " Mean ! He mean for true. He mean, Missis,
case he people talk so much bout sorry for poor nigger,
all time da kill one anudder, an killee da wife, an killee
da chile. How come, ef da so sorry for poor nigger, da
no sorry for poor buckra ? How come da got no feelin
for da wimmins, for poor pickininny, for da little chil'n ?
How come dem buckra men killee da wife, dem wife killee
da husband, an dem moser killee da chile ? I want know
dat ! Heh ? How come da no gib ebely body nuff to
eat ? Heh ? You come to G-eorgy, Missis ; ebely body
got plenty to eat da, an nobody hurt wimins an chil'n.
No, no ; da don't do dat much in Guinea country, cepin
to eat urn."

Lady. [Forgetting, or not having noticed, that Buck
had (in words) only attributed the paternity of his fathers
to Africa.] " What ! were they cannibals in your
country ?"

Buck. " No, not Hannibals ; new nigger — Ebo nigger,
Missis."

Lady. " 1 mean, did they eat people there ?"

Buck. 11 Dat trute, Missis ; da eat people da for true !
An belly good eatin da is, too ; speshly dem lilly picki-
ninny nigger, — lilly baby nigger, — when da fat."

Lady. " Oh, horrible ! Did they really eat children ?"

Buck. [Smacking his lips, and looking voracious.] " Dat
trute for true, Missis. You see, Missis, da s some scuse
for killin pickininny when you hongry, and eat um. But
you people kill um an no eat um ; an I call dat great
wase, in country wha so many people all time tarvin. Dat
make me say he mean country, Missis, an tank God in
my player dat me live in better country, wha we's better
people."

" But do you ever thank God in the right way, my
man, for your blessings ? Do you ever pray to him in
the right spirit ?" said the dissenting minister of whom
I have spoken.

Buck. "Ainty I been tell Missis, Massa, how I tank
God in my player dat I no bad and hongry like you poor
Inglis buckra ?"

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Here the burst of merriment on the part of all except

the solemn minister was uprorious. That gentleman,
nothing daunted, returned to the charge.

Clergyman. 11 Ah, my friend, that is not the right
spirit of prayer ; that is too much like the Pharisee in
the temple — of whom, perhaps, you have heard. You
should thank God for your blessings, but confess yourself
a miserable sinner in his sight, and pray to be made
better."

Buck. " Ki, Massa ! What for me play dat lie to God ?
He know better — he know me no miserable sinner — me
Clistian man."

The solemn gentleman shook his head doubtfully and
solemnly amidst the hearty laughter of the bystanders.

"Ha!" said Buck, "you no tink me Clistian, Massa?
Bible say, sarch me an know me heart, try me an know
me toughts. If you know do dat, how you been gwine
tell me no Clistian, heh ?" And as the solemn minister
moved away from his " hard customer," Buck cried out
after him, with great earnestness, " Joe's dead, ef me aint
Clistian, Massa r

On the next day there was a soiree at Willis's Rooms,
St. James Street, gotten up at the instance of this same
Anti-Slavery Society, for the purpose of presenting an
address to Mrs. Stowe. I send you a copy of the pro-
ceedings, where you will see more of the bosh of which
the Stowes, like true Yankees, have availed themselves in
making a good thing out of their capital.

Your friend and cousin,

To Major Jones, P. Jokes.

Pineville, Georgia, U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

LETTER VIII.

SOCIAL PROFLIGACY OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE ST. ALBAN's

ELECTION ST. ALBANS BRIBERY COMMISSION.

London, June lGth, 1853.

Dear Major : — Buck was right when he intimated,
as you will perceive from my last he did, after his manner,
that it is a great humbug, for a people so steeped in crime,
in profligacy, in poverty and wretchedness, as are the in-
habitants of this United Kingdom, to set themselves up
as critics and reformers among the nations. It is indeed
ridiculous for a people, so overwhelmed with social evils,
to talk loftily about " holding " our Slave States " up to
universal reprobation " ; and to encourage their good and
noble ladies in the attempt to excite the women of our
States upon the subject of slavery. To show you how
very unwise it is on the part of "those who are hurling
such missiles from that immense glass-house, the social
system of Great Britain, I will proceed to furnish you,
and through you such of our friends as you may permit
(without printing) to read them, some of the results of
my observation and experience during the last two years.

One of the features in the character of this people, which
has impressed me most painfully, is, what may properly
be qalled social profligacy. I use this term in a very
general sense : a sense which embraces corruption of moral
principles, and looseness of moral conduct. So far as
manners, personal habits, and chastity, are concerned,
there has been a great improvement in this country, cer-
tainly, since the days of Tom Jones and Peregrine Pickle.
And I would not be understood as meaning to say, that
among the higher classes of society (and in this term I
desire that the better sort of what is called the middle
class should be included) in this country, there is to be
found that license of speech and of morals which prevailed

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

in former years. That such looseness of morals among a
very large portion of this society, and among some of the
higher classes, does still prevail, to a most disgusting ex-
tent, I do insist, and expect to show in due time. On the
other hand, I am free to admit, that there are no people
on earth more refined in manners and virtuous in conduct,
so far as regards the relations between the sexes, than,
as a general rule, the nobility and gentry and a large pro-
portion of the middle class of society in this country are.
But I wish to be understood now as plainly saying to you,
that, whilst there has been an improvement upon the
coarseness and the vice of the last century in certain
directions, there still prevails a high degree of social
depravity among the people of this country. It is mani-
fested in the corruption of their system of suffrage ; in the
vice of betting or gambling, more especially upon horse-
races ; in the ignorance of the masses ; in the amount and
character of the crimes committed; in the number of
abandoned women of the town ; the number of illegitimate
children ; the profligate intercourse of the sexes ; the de-
graded moral character, generally, of the lower classes,
and the great number of juvenile delinquents.

Let us begin with their elections — the source in a free
government (which this professes to be) from which many
of the streams that give life and character to the body-
politic must flow.

The corrupt moral tone of large masses of this popula-
tion is indicated by the systematic bribery which is prac-
tised in their elections. The bribed, though not the very
lowest of the low (because in such case they would not
probably be electors) are not among the more elevated
ranks of society. But who are the bribers, and whose is
the money ? The immediate agents of the candidates are
attorneys or solicitors, as the general rule ; and they em-
ploy subordinate agents, who again subordinate their
instruments. At the top of this scale, those engaged are
entitled by law to write themselves gentlemen, perhaps,
and belong for the most part to the middle classes ; those
at the other end are of the same class with the voters —
possibly lower in the social scale. Yet all of these per-
sons are, in fact and in law, but the agents and instru-

BILLY BUCK S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

merits of the candidates, who come, as the general r le,
from the aristocracy of birth or of wealth. And the part
these latter play is only the more despicable because of its
hypocrisy. They are, in almost all instances, careful not
to mix themselves up with bribery or illegal solicitations ;
and it seems quite the fashion for them to insist, when
coming down with the cash, which they well know will be
employed in bribery (I dare say their tongues are in their
cheeks the while), that it shall, by no means, be illegally
employed. But they take very good care not to interfere
with their agents, and not to inquire what is or has been
done with the money. Thus all, classes share the evil,
and its consequent moral degradation. Of course there
are exceptions to this rule — highly honorable exceptions.
Indeed, I do not mean to say that the practice is univer-
sal, but only that it prevails to 'such an extent in the
kingdom as greatly to affect its moral character. I will
give you some of the proofs.

In the year 1850, (I believe,) Mr. Jacob Bell was elected
a member of Parliament by the borough of St. Albans.
He was charged by his opponent with having procured
his election by illegal means. An Act was accordingly
passed by the House of Commons, appointing commis-
sioners to inquire into the matter and report. On Mon-
day, the 27th of October, 1851, that Commission met, and
entered on the investigation. It continued its session
from day to day, for many days. The result was, a re-
port unfavorable, both to the candidate and to the
borough. He was unseated, and it was disfranchised.
I propose to send you some extracts, taken from the pro-
ceedings of that Commission, and published in a London
newspaper, serving to show how the system to which I
have referred is managed in this country. I can only
send you a portion of the proceedings, as the whole would
occupy too much time and space.

"ST. ALBANS BRIBERY COMMISSION.

First Day. Monday, Oct. 21. — This morning this long-
expected inquiry was opened in the Town Hall, at St. Albans,
by Messrs. F. W. Slade, W. Forsyth, and T. Phinn, Coraniis-

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

sioners appointed by an Act passed last session, entitled 'An
Act appointing Commissioners to inquire into the existence of
bribery in the borough of St. Albans. Shortly before the
opening of the court, Mr. Bell, the sitting member, entered,
and took his seat near the Commissioners. The court was
much crowded, and several jokes respecting 'Bell-metal' and
' Sovereign-alley ' were occasionally audible.

Mr. Slade said that this inquiry would, in the first instance,
be limited to the proceedings at the last election ; but the act
gave powers to inquire into an almost unlimited period. All
persons conducting themselves properly would be allowed to
be present during the examination of the witnesses ; but it
was highly inexpedient to print and publish anything that
might affect the character of persons, and it would be some-
what indecent that the evidence on which the Commissioners'
report was to be founded should go forth before the Commis-
sioners had formed their own conclusions, and had reported to
the Queen. If, therefore, this rule against prematurely pub-
lishing the evidence were infringed upon, it would be the Com-
missioners' duty thenceforth to conduct the inquiry with closed
doors. Mr. Slade then stated that, under the 7th section of
the Act, the Commissioners could compel the attendance of
witnesses and the production of documents, and could compel
answers to all questions ; in fact, the Legislature had conferred
very extraordinary powers upon this Commission — more exten-
sive, indeed, than had ever before been conferred on any other
Commission ; and the penalties attendant upon refusing to
comply with the requisition of the Commissioners were very
severe ; but no penal consequence of a criminal or civil nature
would attend the disclosure of the truth ; for, by the 8th sec-
tion, all parties faithfully disclosing all matters within their
knowledge on the subject of this inquiry, were indemnified from
all consequences whatever, whether civil or criminal, and certi-
ficates from the Commissioners would protect such parties for
any act previously done by them in this borough.

Mr. Bell, the sitting member, was then examined on the sub-
ject of the money advanced for the purposes of the election,
and as to the circumstances under which he came forward as a
candidate. The first communication he received upon the sub-
ject of the election was from Mr. Coppock, the parliamentary
agent ; who told him there was a vacancy at St. Albans, and
that if he became a candidate he was likely to be returned,
and that the expense of it would be about £2500. Witness
expressed himself rather surprised at the largeness of the

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

amount, and wanted to know what it was for ; to which Mr.
Coppock replied that there were various expenses and a good
deal to pay for agents, and that that would be about the
amount ; and he thought he could secure him the election for
that sum of money. Witness said that he himself, personally,
would have nothiDg to do with it, but would refer him to other
parties.

Mr. Edwards was then called : being lame, he was seated
during his examination. He gave his evidence in a frank and
manly manner ; but when his testimony affected the honor or
character of others, he was painfully* affected.

Mr. Slade asked, had Mr. Edwards any statement to make ?

Mr. Edwards said he was not a volunteer. He had been
summoned, and would answer truly ; but in his position, it
was preferable that his evidence should be drawn from him.
In answer to questions, Mr. Edwards then stated that he had
long resided in St. Albans. He had been manager of the St.
Albans Bank, and a voter for the borough. He took part in
the borough elections for twenty-five years. On the 16th of
November he received a letter from Mr. Coppock, referring to
Mr. Raphael's death, and summoning him to town. He saw
Mr. Coppock on the 18th of November, in Parliament street,
and Coppock asked witness to act with him. Witness con-
sented. Coppock asked about expenses, and said the Hon.
Mr. Craven wished to be a candidate. Witness said £2500
would be the expense. Coppock said he would communicate
with Mr. Craven, and would see witness next day. The ex-
penses were irrespective of a contest ; and witness said that,
in consequence of a contract with the Conservatives, there
would be no contest. The £2500 referred to the general ex-
penses of an election, contingent on circumstances. Witness
would not, under any circumstances, embark without that
amount. ..... Mr. Garden was brought

to the field by a portion of the 'third party,' and was then
supported by the Conservatives. The third party were 151.
Bragg's Conservatives were 50 or 60. Mr. Gape and the Earl
of Verulaui were of that party. The 151 were polled to a
vote at the last election ; there was no third party. Witness
told Coppock he could poll two to one against Mr. Carden,
and he had done so. He first heard of Carden in a letter in-
troducing Mr. Gresham, who said he had ' a candidate ' who
had lots of money. The name was mentioned — Sir Fitzroy

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Kelly. Gresliam said he had come to reside near St. Albans,
and wanted a 'slice/ as he wasn't going to be 'quiet.' Wit-
ness said, 'What do you want V Gresliam replied, ' Ten gui-
neas a day.' Witness offered five. He ultimately decided to
ask the friend who introduced Gresliam. When Bell came
down, Gresham was one of the first whom witness asked to aid
his canvass ; but, at a meeting to invite Garden, Gresham
offered to draw up the requisition inviting Carden. Witness
was surprised and hurt, and wrote to remonstrate. [Here
Mr. Gresham interrupted the witness, but was silenced.] Gre-
sham wrote an answer (now produced), stating that he knew
nothing of the Garden party. Soon afterwards, Carden ap-
peared. Witness saw Garden, and told him that he knew no-
thing of the town, or he would not disturb it, as Mr. Bell's
return was certain. Mr. Carden bowed, and his friends talked
'fudge.' Garden came as a Liberal. Witness took all the
packets to Chequers street. He never saw Bell in Chequers
street. There was a sort of understanding — a custom — that
the Liberals would vote for witness's candidate. Witness held
out no promises. When there was anything to give, he always
gave it. Head-money was always customary and notorious at
St. Albans. Out of 324 Liberals, 250 always looked for
head-money ; and the opposite party always looked for it.
They all looked for it. He should consider it strange if any
one voted for Carden without getting money. At previous
elections, witness had paid money to fifty of those who voted
for Carden at the last election. At the last election, £5 was
the lowest and £8 the highest sum paid to the light weights.
There were heavy weights. The heavy weights got £75. The
mode of business was this-: — The town was canvassed all day.
In the evening the voters came to him and got their money.
That had been the custom for twenty years. The voters
stopped below stairs. Witness's brother-in-law stood at the
top of the stairs, and introduced the voters one by one. The
sum to each person varied at different elections. Most of the
voters were engaged at the elections as messengers, spies, and
so on, and each one was remunerated as he deserved. Each
was put on the footing of a servant. Some were actually and
some only nominally employed. Those who got money under
the color of work got least. Those who did work got most.
The voter's visits to Sovereign Alley and the paying com-
menced on the 30th of November.

Mr. Slade : Did you keep a list of the persons who came,
and an account of the money you paid ?

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

Mr. Edwards : Yes. But I have destroyed the list. I
don't want to mention names. I will tell everything else.

Mr. Phinn : But the Act of Parliament renders it neces-
sary for us to know the names.

Mr. Edwards : You see how painful is my position. Does
the Act of Parliament compel me ?

Mr. Slade : The Act gives us power to compel you. We
feel for your position, but these names must be given.

Mr. Edwards : Let me know, in the presence of those
around me, my townsmen, what will be the consequences if I
refuse to tell the* names.

Mr. Phinn : You will be imprisoned until you do

M. Edwards : I have already been in jail eighteen weeks,
and would go for another eighteen weeks, sooner than tell the
names.

Mr. Slade : But you may be imprisoned for life.

Mr. Edwards : Then I am compelled. I will give the
names. I will give every one of them. I will take an alpha-
betical list of the electors, and will tell all I know of each of
them. I won't select names. I won't make fish of one and
fowl of another. It shall all come out.

Mr. Slade : You are traducing nobody here. You are to
satisfy the supreme power in the state, and simply to tell the
truth.

Mr. Edwards : I wish to do so, and I hope it will do good.

Great excitement prevailed in court during this conversa-
tion. A scene was about to be enacted such as had never
before been witnessed.

Copies of the register were procured. The Commissioners
took a copy, and began with the first name — Mr. Edwards
being given to understand, when a name was called, that the
question was, 1 Did that man receive money from you V Many
of the parties referred to were in court at the time, and. the
answers offered by Mr. Edwards were followed, in each case,
by murmuring comments from the audience. At four o'clock
about 200 names had been called ; these being electors resi-
dent in a single parish. For obvious reasons, we do not give
the list of those reported by Mr. Edwards to have received
bribes ; but we may state the results. Two out of three had
received bribes, and nine out of ten had received the money
direct from Edwards himself. Some had received the money
from Mr. Bragg, as the Conservative agent, acting with Ed-
wards, but not allowing Edwards to interfere with his own
people ; and others had got their bribes through inferior

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR;

agents employed by Edwards. A few had declined taking
their bribes except through their wives ; and in those cases it
was found that the parties had voted against Edwards's can-
didate, or had not voted at all. Nearly all had received their
money before the day of the election. Those who had re-
ceived their money afterwards were parties who had forfeited
their words in previous contests. 'But,' said Mr. Edwards,
'there is seldom a forfeit of word in these cases.' The usual
sum given by Edwards was £5 — '£5 for his vote, by myself,'
being the most frequent answer as the names were called.
There were other sums, of £6, £8, and £10, paid ; but in
those cases vote and actual service were paid for together. In
reference to one name, the witness said, ' That was not for his
vote. I had taken his room for a committee-room, and there
was a bed-room. The price was high, but not too high for
election times. Nothing whatever was said about the vote to
him. That was quite understood. It was a matter of course
that he would vote for my candidate. ' In reference to another
name, the statement was, ' The £8 was for his work as mes-
senger; and he worked very hard. It was understood he
would vote for me. I never even asked that. It was a mat-
ter of course.' Another statement, respecting another party,
was, ' He got between £10 and £20. But that was for goods
supplied. The vote was a matter of course.' Of another the
witness said, ' He got the £5 to keep the peace. He is a
prize-fighter. I used to have a band of twenty prize-fighters
at the elections, but at the last election I only employed one.
I gave him £5 ; and he would have had that if he hadn't had a
vote. He used to get it before he got a vote.'

Fourth Day. Thursday, Oct. 30. — On Thursday morning
the Commissioners resumed their sittings in the Court House,
St. Albans. An immense crowd attended, all other business
iii the town being suspended by these unusual proceedings.

Mr. Slade said that it had come to the knowledge of the
Commissioners that threats had been used to one of the offi-
cers employed under this Commission. He now announced that
the court was determined to protect, to the utmost of their
power, not only their own officers, but all witnesses examined
under the compulsory powers granted to the Commission. And
if, after this warning, any interruption was offered to the pro-
ceedings, the party so interrupting would be dealt with in the
severest manner allowed by law.

Mr. Edwards then resumed his seat in the witness' box.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

He begged, before beginning his evidence, to state a circum-
stance which had occured last evening. A person whom he
had employed in 1850 on his farm, as a painter, had that even-
ing sent into him a bill for £5 8s. 6d. That person had
received £5 or upwards at the late election, and on the bill
now sent in was marked, 'Received £5 8s. on account.' This
man had never sent in a bill to him before, but doubtless he
had done work for it ; but the <£5 odd given at the election
was not given towards the settlement of the bill.

The reading of the registry, and Mr. Edwards's answers
respecting each man, were then resumed. There was a re-
reading of St. Albans' parish, the wrong list having been given
on the previous day, and the corrections were now made. Ed-
wards's manner was less constrained than on the previous day ;
he now gave not only the indispensable facts, but with easy
unreserve he gossipped about his neighbors, and mentioned
stories in extenuation or censure, which were superfluous. The
novelty of his extraordinary position seemed to have worn
away, and his revelations were tendered with a chatty air,
which indicated rather a pleasant understanding with his ex-
aminers. At the same time, he affected no candor. He was
clear, open, and truthful, and made it apparent that compul-
sion only could induce him to make the disclosures ; and that,
being compelled, he related all his election anecdotes accu-
rately. The registry of St. Albans' parish having been gone
through, the lists of St. Peter's and St. Michael's freemen were
slowly called out. Edwards's comments seemed to be ready
marked opposite each name; he did not hesitate for a moment,
and it was very seldom that he was not positive in his state-
ments. On delivering his emphatic '£5 by myself to himself
for his vote,' no man could doubt that he had told the truth.

Fifth Day. Tuesday, Nov. 4. — On Tuesday, the Commis-
sioners, F. W. Slade, W. Forsyth, and J. Phinn, Esqs., at half-
past ten, A. M., resumed their sittings (adjourned from Thurs-
day, the 30th ult.) at the Court House, St. Albans. The
court was densely crowded, as Mr. Coppock was in attend-
ance.

Mr. Heywood Edwards (son of the witness Edwards) was
first called; and, being questioned as to the 'inducement' sug-
gested by Mr. Coppock to his father, said that his father had
told him that Mr. Coppock had promised to get a Government
situation for one of his (the father's) sons. Witness had four
brothers ; none of them had yet obtained any public situation.
Mr. Bond Cabbell had got one of the sons into the Bluecoat
School. Edwards, Sen., had acted as Mr. Cabbell's agent.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Mr. Edwards, Sen., was now re-examined, and deposed that
none of the ' head-money ' given by him at the last election
had been returned since. Mr. Reding, a Dissenting minister,
had been on Mr. Bell's committee, but was not very active,
and was not, as witness believes, aware of the election prac-
tices as conducted by witness. His (witness') son's statement
respecting Mr. Coppock's promise of a situation was correct.
But witness had not mentioned the word ' Government ' to his
son. All that he said was, a 'situation.'

Mr. Francis Edwards, another son of the last witness, said
he also had acted as agent between his father and Mr. Cop-
pock. He had carried packets, and had, like his brother,
acted as doorkeeper iu Sovereign Alley.

Mr. James Coppock, solicitor and parliamentary agent, 40,
Parliament street, being called, IMr. Slade asked whether Mr.
Coppock had a statement to make respecting the part he took
in the St. Albans' election.

Mr. Coppock said he was ready to answer any question the
Commissioners might put, but that all he knew respecting the St.
Alban's election was in his confidential capacity as solicitor to
Mr. Bell. He applied for Mr. Bell's permission to give evidence,
as, without Mr. Bell's permission, no power on earth would have
induced him to utter a single word on the subject. Mr. Bell
first gave a verbal authority ; but witness requested and ob-
tained a written authority, which he now produces, and Mr.
Bell requested that Mr. Coppock would withhold no evidence
that was necessary to carry out the inquiry.
Witness' professional duties led him very much in connection
with parliamentary matters, and had done so, for the last fifteen
or sixteen years — indeed, ever since Sir R. Peel's celebrated ad-
vice, to 'register, register, register!' In 1835, an association,
composed of TOO or 800 of the leading members of the Liberal
party, was established, and shortly after its establishment wit-
ness was appointed secretary of the association. That asso-
ciation was called the Reform Association. Its object was to
attend to the registrations throughout England, and assist in
the Liberal cause generally. This had placed him in commu-
nication with almost every borough and county in England.
From that time to this, he had, without hardly knowing how,
been in some way or other consulted by the Liberal party
whenever there was a vacancy anywhere, and he had been con-
stantly in the habit of watching vacancies. He thus knew
something of most places in England ; and if he were to go
through the list of boroughs and counties, as the Commission-
ers had done the list of electors in this case, and if he were

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

asked to state how the members had gained their seats, he
believed he could make as extraordinary a statement with re-
spect to those boroughs and counties as Mr. Edwards had
made with respect to St. Albans [applause from the audience].
He had not made that statement with a view to applause, but
merely to show the extent of the system ; for he knew it well,
and there was no man in the kingdom who had a greater hor-
ror of it than he had. When Mr. Thorley came, witness asked
what were his friend's position and circumstances. Was he a
producible man ? Was he an orator ? and many other ques-
tions, including what were his politics, as witness acted only
on one side. Having been satisfied on these points, he said
he would consider the matter. In three weeks afterwards, Mr.
Thorley returned, and mentioned Mr. Bell's name, and witness
requested Mr. Bell to call, which he did. Having inquired
about his politics, and the expense he would be willing to
incur, — for it was as necessary on such occasions to knoAV the
depth of a member's pocket as of his politics, — Mr. Bell
frankly said that his only object was to get into Parliament to
promote certain views of his own with regard to the medical
profession, which he had for years labored to bring forward,
and which he thought he could better advocate if he were in
Parliament. He had no ambitious views. ....
There was at that time no other candidate in the field. The
'third party' were still in negotiation with Sir B. Carden, and
were using every effort to get hold of him or some other can-
didate, without respect to politics, and simply for the sake of
expenditure. This had always been the practice in St. Albans ;
and witness read a letter which he had received from Mr.
Geard, in 1836, showing that it was then the established cus-
tom of the 1 third party ' to make the candidates ' bribe and
bleed ' as freely as possible. Witness believed that the same
custom had existed for 100 years. It had always been under-
stood that the great majority of the electors of St. Albans
could be bought and sold without respect to principle or any-
thing else. Bell having agreed to the terms proposed, a diffi-
culty arose as to how the money should go. It was ultimately
agreed that it was to be sent through witness to Edwards.
Witness never saw a farthing of the money ; he received it in
sealed packets. He knew that the £2500 did go, in some way
or other, and the result was the return of Mr. Bell by a large
majority, as Edwards had promised. Edwards kept faith with
witness on that occasion, as he always did when he got into

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

Mr. Forsyth : We wish to know, did you convey, or intend
to convey, that impression to Mr. Edwards's mind ?

Mr. Coppock : I intended to convey the impression that, if
he succeeded in returning Mr. Bell, I should consider myself
under an obligation to him on behalf of the Liberals. I gave
Mr. Edwards permission to tell every word of everything I
promised ; and if I promised him anything, I shall not violate
or alter the fulfilment now.

Mr. Forsyth : Have you been the means of recommending
any persons to Government situations ?

Mr. Coppock : Certainly. I have exerted myself to serve
several parties who served me. The witness then stated that
the Reform Club party owed its origin to the Reform Associa-
tion, but had no connection with it — that association died four
or five years ago. There was not now any organized system
of finding candidates for boroughs. He was not aware who
told him that Sir R. Carden's limit was .£1500 ; but he heard
it through somebody ostensibly acting for that gentleman. The
process adopted by the ' third party 1 was this : they went to
a dozen places, — to Westminster Hall and elsewhere, — trying
if they could find any one to become a candidate. They
asked each person what he would spend. He would say so
much. They would reply that would not do, and would men-
tion some higher sum, promising to insure his return if he only
found the means. Witness heard from some of the persons so
employed that Sir R. Garden would not go beyond £1500.

Mr. Forsyth : What would be the legal expense of return-
ing a member for such a borough as St. Albans, suppose there
was nothing spent in head-money or bribery ?

Mr. Coppock said that if he found he had to retain a dozen
gentlemen of the legal profession, at ten guineas a day, he
would put down £1200 for that; and here he begged to say
that he did not see the difference between that and giving a
poor man 5s. for his vote.

Mr. Forsyth : There is a touch of satire in that, Mr. Cop-
pock, and 1 don't say but it may be a fair one ; but what we
want to know is, suppose there was not a dozen attorneys at
ten guineas a day, but merely the ordinary employment of pro-
fessional men, — clerks, messengers, etc., — and supposing you
were asked bona fide to enter into a contest in St. Albans
without any bribery or head-money, what would be the re-
quired ram?

Mr. Coppock said that Sir II. Ward, when lie left St. Al-
bans and went to Sheffield, told him that the St. Albans elec-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

tion cost him £2400, and the Sheffield election only £100; and
that when he dined with his Sheffield constituents they all
paid their own bills even. Witness thought that £200 was
more than any election at St. Albans ought to cost; but he
added that they never would prevent practices of bribery, or
undue expenses, until they allowed the ballot.

Mr. Slade reminded Mr. Coppock that there were differ-
ences of opinion on that point, and confessed that he (Mr.
Slade) was one of those who thought that the ballot would
increase bribery.

Mr. Edwards was then recalled, and repeated that Mr. Cop-
pock had distinctly held out to him the inducement of 'a situ-
ation for one of his sous.' The promise was made quite volun-
tarily by Mr. Coppock, and, so far as witness remembered, not
at all in the way stated by Mr. Coppock." — Observer, Nov.
dd, 1851.

"Without too much trying your patience, Major, I can-
not send you all the proceedings of this Commission in
one letter. I close this by repeating that I am,
Very respectfully,

Y'r ob'nt serv't and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Ga.; U. S. of America.

LETTER IX.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRIBERY COMMISSION FOR ST. ALBANS
CONTINUED — CONTROVERTED ELECTIONS IN 1852.

London, June 20th, 1853.
Dear Major: — As I feel sure that you will be inte-
rested with the detail of circumstances connected with
this bribery commission, and as it serves so well to illus-
trate what I have said as to the tone of morals in this
country, I shall proceed to furnish you with a few more
extracts from the proceedings of these Commissioners :

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

"BRIBERY COMMISSION AT ST. ALBANS.

Ninth Day. Tuesday, Nov. 11th. — The ninth sitting of the
commission was held this day at St. Albans. The questions
were of a routine character, and the answers were but little
varied. Upwards of 100 electors were severally called to the
"confessional," and acknowledged with the greatest noncha-
lance, and to the amusement of a crowded audience, having
received £5 and £10 for their votes from Edwards, Blagg,
Tass, and others. Most of them admitted having been bribed
at previous elections for Wilks, Craven, Raphael, and Repton ;
but the majority professed that the money was in payment of
" services," not "bribes" for votes. One of the early witnesses
was the house-painter, who had, as Edwards stated, received a
£5 bribe, but who subsequently furnished his painting bill for
£5 6s. 8d. due by Edwards, and who persisted in saying that
the £5 was given not as a bribe, but in payment of the paint-
ing bill. Another witness was a blind man, with whom the
commissioner held the following colloquy :

Did you vote in 1817 ?

Ans. : I did.

Commissioner : For whom ?
Ans. : For some gent as is dead.
Ques. : For Mr. Raphael ?

Ans. : I heerd so. Another man received £5 at the last
election and £10 in 1847. He said both sums were for services.

Ques. : Why did you receive more in 1847 than at last
election ?

Ans. : Oh, I had two votes (as a £10 householder and a
freeman) in 1847.

Ques. : Then the £10 could not have been for services ?
Ans. : Yes, it was.

Ques. : Were your services the same in 1847 as at last
election ?

Ans. : Yes, quite the same.

Though pressed to explain the contradiction, the witness
would not admit that he had been paid for his "vote." On
concluding his evidence he was asked if he wanted a certificate ;
he replied that he should like one. The Commissioner said :
But you are in a dilemma. If you did not receive money for
your vote, you don't want a certificate ; and if you did, you
have told us a falsehood. The witness then withdrew without
making any further application.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

Mr. George Sealey Waggett's name was called. " Here,"
shouted a bold voice ; and then, amidst great laughter, the
long-missing Waggett appeared. He is a small, emaciated,
ghastly pale man ; an Irishman, with a native accent, but
slightly deteriorated by his long residence in St. Albans. His
wife keeps a lodging-house there ; and he, Birchmore, and
Skeggs, had levanted to Boulogne, and a royal proclamation
offered £200 to recover the wanderers. In reply to questions,
Waggett frankly answered that he had received £5 at the last
election, and £5 in 1847, for his vote.

Commissioner Forsyth : I hope, Mr. Waggett, your health
is improved by the mild climate of France [laughter] ?

Mr. Waggett : Thank you, sir, I'm much better [great
laughter].

Mr. Graham here asked : Did you receive more than £5 for
your vote at the last election ?
Waggett : Xo ; no more
Graham : Or since ?

The Commissioner said that their powers did not extend to
embrace this question. Mr. Waggett then withdrew, and sat
near Hayward, one of the companions of his continental trip.
Hayward has adopted the foreign style of dress, and now wears
a formidable beard and mustachios. Birchmore, one of the
" missing witnesses," appeared in the box amidst much merri-
ment. He was dressed as a farm laborer, and is about 60 years
old. He admitted that he had been bribed by " Muster Ed-
wards," and had been lately "abroad." Skeggs, another of
the " travellers," also about 60, dressed as a laborer, in answer
to a question which he did not hear, said he was " no schol-
lard," though he had boasted to his townsmen that he had
learned "French." Another voter named Smith said he had
received £67 for the band, and for his " services" to Bell's
party, but he ultimately voted for Carden, on the purity prin-
ciple [laughter].

Commissioner : Why did you change sides ?

Aus. : Because it was more to my interest.

Ques. : Why so ?

Ans. : All I can say is, that I found it so.

On further question, the witness admitted that he had re-
ceived a notice to quit from his landlord's agent, Mr. Law (who
was also Alderman Carden's agent). He had voted for Car-
den, and has not quitted his house, nor is he now likely to quit
it. But there were no direct threats proved, and the witness
did his best to serve his landlord and the landlord's agent.

86 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR.

Another witness, who had received money from Edwards to
vote for Bell, nevertheless, ultimately voted for Carden on the
" purity principle," because on looking over his books he found
that the balance of customers lay in the direction of -Garden's
party [laughter]. Another voter who, at the last election,
received £5 for his ''services," and whose juvenile appearance
led the commissioner to question him on the subject, said he
was not yet 21. He knew that he had no legal right to vote,
and he knew it when he was voting.

Mr. Graham, the solicitor, here urged to have questions put
to the witnesses who had absconded, respecting the pecuniary
supplies for their trip to the Continent ; but the commissioner
decided that they had no power to go into that subject.

Above 100 persons having been examined, the Court, at half-
past three o'clock, adjourned to Wednesday.

Tenth Day. Wednesday, Nov. 12/7?.. — On Wednesday the
Commissioners met at the usual hour, and ninety more of the
electors were called, and put upon their defence, to answer or
to admit the criminatory charges brought against them by
Messrs. Edwards, Blagg, Yass, Harris, and others. On Tues-
day about 100 were similarly examined ; and on the preceding
Friday 60 were heard. The general result, therefore, is, that
out of the 483 persons who are on the register for the borough
of St. Albans, more than one-half have been arraigned, and that
ninety-nine out of a hundred have pleaded guilty to direct, tan-
gible bribery and corruption. On the first occasion of the
Commissioners resorting to the unexpected and most effective
expedient of summoning the individual electors, and compelling
each man to speak, on his oath, for himself, there was very
considerable difficulty in getting at the truth. The summons
came upon the majority like a thunderbolt ; and although there
were many who, saturated with the St. Albans morale, care-
lessly regarded their offence as locally inoffensive, there were
others, " influentials" and tradesmen, who were dismayed at an
official exposure which risked their social position in the town
and neighborhood among their own class, and who, not having
had the repose for philosophical reflection accidentally afforded
to Mr. Edwards, could not, all at once, resolve to make a
" clean breast of it."

The following are specimens of the cases elicited this day :
Wm. Thompson voted for Sir R. Carden last election, but
received no money. In 1847, he received £10 to vote for
Raphael, but nevertheless he gave his vote for Craven.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

John Cockington, cordwainer, said he received £3 from
Edwards at last election. He voted for fifty years with the
Liberals, and never voted on the other side except once. He
would have voted for Bell whether he got money or not. He
had never received money before. He understood that the £3
was to drink Mr. Edwards's health.

The Chief Commissioner : Do you think you can make us
believe that ?

Witness : Yes, sir [laughter].

Mr. Commissioner Forsyth : Were you to spend the whole
of the £3 for brandy and water ?

Witness : I was to spend it as I liked. On my oath I don't
think the money was for my vote. Never got £3 from Mr.
Edwards to drink his health at any but election times.

Mr. Commissioner Forsyth : We give certificates to all those
who speak truly, and tell us they received money for their
votes ; but of course as you say you were not paid for your
vote, you don't want a certificate ?

Witness : No, sir.

George Gooch, gunmaker, said that Edwards left £5 with
witness' wife last election, but he did not know of it till two
days afterwards. He wished her to return the money, but she
would not. She spent it on her children. He voted after all
for Sir R. Carden. Did not get any money from Sir R. Car-
den's party. Got £15 at the 1841 election from Mr. Blagg
and Mr. Edwards.

Mr. Commissioner Forsyth : You were paid rather high.

Witness : Our trade always is, sir [laughter].

Henry Goodman received £1, in 1847, for promising to Mr.
Wilkes, but he afterwards mistook the name, and voted for
Repton [a laugh].

W. Drayton said he received £10 from Repton's party, in
184T, to abstain from voting.

Mr. Blagg explained that the race was very close between
Wilkes and Repton, and the object of Repton's party was to
send away as many as possible of Wilkes's promisees.

Mr. Commissioner Forsyth : And is it customary, then, to
give the voters money to break their promises ?

Mr. Blagg : Not to break their promises, sir. Yery few of
the St. Albans voters ever break their promises ; but it is not
unusual for a voter to find it convenient to go away on a
"journey" at election times [a laugh]. I have known cases

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

of voters being sent away in coaches and four, and of coaches
and four being sent after them to fetch them back again.

The Court intimated that certificates would not be granted
to any voters who did not come forward to give their evidence,
and that such persons would, therefore, be subject to prosecu-
tions for having received bribes. The proceedings were then
— four o'clock — adjourned to next day.

Eleventh Day. Thursday, Nov. 13//?. — This morning the
Commissioners again resumed their inquiries, and a few more
witnesses were examined, each of whom, after his humble con-
fession, retreated into an obscure corner of the court, waiting
for his certificate of protection from the Commissioners.

Mr. Thomas Blanks deposed that he acted as an agent for
Carden at the election in December last, and voted fcr him.
He was not paid for his vote. He did not think he was paid
for anything. Before the election, Mr. Low, Alderman Car-
den's agent, authorized him to draw a few pounds to pay flag-
bearers, bandmen, <fcc. ; and if he had overdrawn a little, he
was not aware of it. He paid no head-money at last election.
He wished he had the power.

Mr. Phinn : Why do you wish that ?

Witness : Because we could then have fought on equal
terms.

Mr. Phinn : Oh ! you objected to the purity principle ?

Witness : To be sure I did. I never would have agreed to
vote for Carden, if I thought he was coming forward on the
purity principle. Because no one can get into any borough
on the purity principle [laughter].

Mr. Phinn : Well, did you go to London hunting for a can-
didate ?

Witness : Yes, I went with some others, and saw a good
many persons ; some we never asked, and others declined to
stand.

Mr. Phinn : Did you speak about money to them ?

Witness : Undoubtedly. No one can get into any borough
without it. We said, "A good sum will be required if there
is an opposition : but come on the ground and see, and then
you will not like to leave it, perhaps." We mentioned £1500
or £2000, according to circumstances.

Mr. Phinn : You were not particular as to a thousand, I
suppose ?"

Witness : Oh, no, sir [laughter].

Mr. Forsyth : Were you to have £250 of it ?

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

Witness : No, sir ; that was on another occasion. While
they were searching for a candidate there was a meeting at ray
house. Like others, I took up the affair as a matter of busi-
ness, to get what I could out of it. We asked Mr. Norton, of
Waterloo-place, to stand. Wre believed he had almost con-
sented to our conditions.

Mr. Phinn : What were the conditions ?

Witness : As I told you just now — £1500 or £2000. At
the meeting at my house, Simpson, Webster, and three or four
others were present. Simpson said, "Have you a candidate ?"
We said, "No; but we expect to get one." He then said,
" You had better compromise this affair." We asked in what
shape ? He said, " Oh, there will bea certain sum to pay to
Mr. Blagg, Mr. Debenham, Mr. Edwards, and myself, and
there will be about £250 left. If you like you may take that,
and whack it, or share it, between you" [laughter], Mr.
Simpson was a sort of middleman between us and the other
party. We did not accept the proposal, however. We
thought we could do better if we stuck to our own candidate.

Mr. Forsyth : Well, did you do better ?

Witness : No, we ought to have done better than we did.

Mr. Forsyth : You said that the expenses at St, Albans
were a mere milk score compared with other boroughs. How
do you think so ?

Witness : Well, I consider that in Maiden, in Essex, for in-
stance, they spend more money than they do here. I never
received any there, because I was not a voter. I was not in
St. Albans in 1847. I have been about two years only in the
borough. I took up 'the late election, as I have said, as a mat-
ter of business. There are few people in St. Albans who do
not move at election times. I joined with the stream.

Mr. Phinn : But Mr. Edwards was the stream, was he not
[laughter] ?

Witness : Yes, but he had the bag, and we wished to have
one for ourselves. We wanted to fight Edwards on his own
principles [laughter].

Mr. Forsyth : You have certainly made a most candid
statement, Mr. Blanks.

Mr. Phinn : Had you any agreement with Mr. Pocock or
Tucker as to your destined share of the money ?

Witness : Oh, no. The money was to pass through their
hands, and of course they would take care of number one
[laughter]. I heard nothing of purity when Carden was first
8*

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

taken up. When Carden came to town, I asked him several
times whether he intended to win his election or lose it. He
said he would very much like to win it, if he could. " Then,"
said I, " You must do as others do, and come out with the
money." I did not mince the matter with him [laughter].
He said he could not do that, as he was pledged to the con-
trary ; but that if he had not been pledged, it would have been
a different thing. As it was, he would not give a shilling for
a hundred votes.

Mr. Phinn : Did he say that if he had not been pledged, it
would have been a different thing ?

Witness : No, he did not exactly say it, but I inferred from
what he did say, that the question would have been open if he
had not been pledged. I suggested to Low that money should
be spent ; but he was so jealous of Carden's reputation, that
he would not hear of it. I cannot say who started the
"purity" principle. It came from some of us "Puritans," as
we are now called.

Mr. Phinn : Oh ! do they call you Puritans ?

Witness : Yes, sir.

Mr. Forsyth : It must have come upon you rather unex-
pectedly, Mr. Blanks, and been quite a shock to your feelings.

Witness : My feelings were rather shocked, I confess, sir.
I thought it no go [laughter]. I believe Mr. Joseph Bennett
was the person who first started the purity principle. I voted
for Alderman Carden, notwithstanding, because I did not like
to run away from him after helping to bring him forward. I
think Alderman Carden would have been elected for an ex-
penditure of less than £4000. I remember attempting to bet
with Alderman Carden that he would -win his election. I
offered to bet him £1000.

Mr. Forsyth : And, supposing you had lost, what would you
have done ?

Witness : I would not have paid him at all [laughter].

Mr. Forsyth : Something has been said as to your having
settled in St. Albans for the mere purpose of acting at elec-
tions. Is that true ?

Mr. Blanks : No, that is not true. I came here to get a
living.

There was great laughter in the court throughout this most
extraordinary series of question and answer.

Shortly before one o'clock, the examination of all the wit-
nesses who came forward was concluded, and the Commis-
sioners then announced that they had determined on adjourn-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

ing the further proceedings to the 1st of December, to give
time for the production of still absent voters, and the exami-
nation of Messrs. Wilks, Craven, and Repton, the candidates
at former elections. They had to thank the mayor, and all
parties concerned, for the great assistance they had given them
in the course of the inquiry ; and a general feeling of satisfac-
tion was expressed throughout the court at the urbane and
considerate manner in which the Commissioners had discharged
the very stringent duties and powers conferred on them by the
act of Parliament." — Observer, November 11th, 1851.

That Mr. Coppock did no injustice to his countrymen,
when, in the course of this investigation, he declared,
that he could make " as extraordinary a statement," with
respect " to the boroughs and counties" in "most places
in England," if "he were to go through the list" as "the
Commissioners had done the list of electors in this case,"
" as Mr. Edwards had made with respect to St. Albans,"
I found subsequently proven, in effect, by numerous pro-
ceedings in the shape of bribery commissions set in motion
during the following year.

In the spring of 1852, the conservatives, under the
leadership of Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli, came into
power. A few months thereafter, Parliament was dis-
solved, and writs for new elections issued. The elections
took place during the month of July, in that year. Both
parties charged each other with bribery and corruption
at these elections ; and following the example which had
been set in the St. Albans bribery affair of the year be-
fore, disappointed aspirants, or their friends, flooded the
House with petitions against the successful candidates, in
the hope of unseating these, or of exposing the frauds by
which they were elected. There were no less than 120
of these petitions. Thus, under the influence of party
excitement, a mass of startling facts has been given to
the world, serving to show the fearful extent to which
corruption, in this direction, has tainted the population
of Great Britain.

A number of the members against whom petitions have
been filed, have been already unseated; and others are
still before the Commissioners. I will send you a few
extracts, showing what has been proven in these cases.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ' OR,

But before doing this, I ought to tell you of Buck's expe-
rience at an English election, as he was present on one
of these occasions, and gives quite a graphic account of
it. This will have to be done in another letter : so I end
this, with the assurance that I am, dear sir,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones, Pineville, Geo.,

U. S. of America.

LETTEE X.

PUCK ATTENDS THE SOUTHAMPTON ELECTION — HIS REPORT OP
IT — HIS STORY OP HIS GRANDFATHER AND HIS OLD MAS-
TER— ENDEAVORS TO COMFORT AN EMANCIPATED SLAVE.

London, June 25th, 1853.

Dear Major: — In the autumn of 1851, Kossuth, the
great Hungarian patriot, landed at Southampton, in this
country. Much excitement prevailed among the people
generally in anticipation of his coming. I partook of the
interest which was felt, and went down to Southampton
for the purpose of being present at his reception. I took
my servant with me, and remained several days. "Whilst
we were there, Buck became acquainted with a brother
negro, who was a resident of that town, John Malachi by
name. By occupation he was a waiter and jobber about
the place, and had acquired means enough to make him
an elector of the town of Southampton. He was quite
polite and hospitable to Buck, and they became great
friends and cronies. This man happened to meet with
Buck in the summer of 1852, a short time before the elec-
tions, and insisted that he should go down and pay him a
visit. At Buck's urgent solicitation, I permitted him to
go for a few days ; and thus it was his destiny to be in
Southampton on the day of the election (July 8th, I think).
You shall have his account of what transpired.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

"And so you witnessed the election at Southampton, I
suppose," said I, when he had returned. " Tell me about
it."

" Marster," said he, " thar was a heap more fuss than
at our lections, an more speechin, an 'bout as much
drinkin; but I do think though, it was ginerly better
liker than the knockneed whiskey that some of our
genTmen qualifies themselves with at 'lections. First
come Sir Sandy Coburn (I bleve that was what Jack Ma-
lachi called him, sir) an Mr. Wilcox an thar friends ; an
they put up at one place ; an they had fine ribbins of one
color, an flags of same color, an -all sorts smart things
writ on some on urn. Then come tother side, Mr. Van-
start an somebody else name Bailey or Bailiff, or some
sich name, an they put up at another place, an they had
ribbins of another color, an flags too. An sich a beatin
of drums an blowin of horns, you never heerd the like, an
sich a callin o' hard names. You'd a thought the people
would a fout every minit, but they didn't ; leastwise, not
much, though they got into a snarl with tother side heap
o' times, that would a ended in a gineral sloshin around
'mong our suvrins. They had a law thar, they told me,
that nobody should treat at the taverns, but Lord bless
your soul, Marster ! thar wus plenty on it gwine on 'bout
in places. Well, in the mornin yearly, says Jack Malachi
to me, says he, ' Come,' says he, ' an less go over an see
Mr. Tucker ; I wants to see ef they's a gwine to stick up
to thar promise to git me a place to sweep the pier-head.'
' Well,' says I, ' I'm agreeable, Mr. Malachi.' So as we
went along — 'Look thar, stag,' says he, 'look at them
stoopid lookin men thar, inside Mr. Whatshisname's fence.
Them's Wig voters,' says he ; 1 them's reglar 'lectors — been
drinkin all night — ■ an now they's pumpin water on 'um,
an givin 'um some bitter beer, to git 'um all right for duty
to day. They's kep 'um locked up,' says he. ' Them's
Wigs,' says he, a pintin at 'um, an laffin."

" 'They looks more like pigs,' says I.

"'Well, any how, them's Wigs,' says he; 'an to my
notion, all Wigs is mighty nigh pigs,' says he ; ' only don't
you go an tell 'um I says so, becase I've promised to give
um one vote, perwiden they sticks up to their word/ says
he.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

" ' Look here, Mr. Malachi/ says I, 1 1 don't like what
you says 'bout Whigs/ says I, 1 becase thar's Whigs in my
country,' says I, 1 though they is gittin sort 'o seedy now ;
an all our good ole revolutioners was Whigs,' says I, jest so ;
1 an I don't like to hear 'um called by no sich hard names.
Ole Marster (that's Marster's father as was, when he was
livin) was a raal Whig,' says I, ' an fit clean through the
ole Bevolution war,' says I; (' Marster's got his cocked hat
yit, up in the garret of his house; leastwise, what the
moths is left of it,' says I,) * an I've heern him say a thou-
sand times, that the Tories was all gran-rascals and trai-
tors,' says I, jest so. An what's more'n that,' says I, 1 I've
heern my gran-father say same thing, an he allers called
hisself a Whig,' says I,' ' down to his dying day, as mos all
them ole revolution niggers did,' says I.

" ' Was your gran-father in that war, stag ?' says Mr.
Malachi,' says he — its the man's funny way of callin me,
sir ; stag, stidy Buck.

" ' Well, I reckin he was, horse,' says I.

" 'An he fout 'long with your ole Marster ?' says he.

" ' Yes sirree — bub ! he done that,' says L

" ' Who did he fight ?' says he.

" ' Them ole British and Injuns,' says I.

" ' Whar did he fight ?'

" ' In Ameriky,' says I, 1 onder Gineral Morgan at the
Cuppens, an at King's Mountain, an the Eutaws,' says I,
' besides heap o' other places. An I've heern ole Marster
say he saved his life onct from the Injuns,' says I.

" ' How was that ?' says Mr. Malachi.

" 1 Well,' says I, ' they was in some sort of a fort up on
Broad Eiver, I think it was,' says I, ' 'long with Col. Clark,
an the Injuns 'tacted the fort. They druv 'um off, but
when ole Marster seed the red-skins runnin, he called out
to his men to foller him, he did, an jumped over the
tronchments, an tuk arter um, an first thing he knowed,
a great many more Injuns ris up from whar they was hid,
an fired on our men, an killed so many on 'um,' says I,
' that ole Marster had to order his people to git back into
the fort,' says I, ' quick as they could. As they was doin
so, ole Marster was wounded, an fell down in a open placo
betwixt the woods an the fort,' says I. ' When our

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

people got back into the fort, they give the Injuns dozier, I
tell you, an kep 'urn off. But thar was a mighty grievin
over ole Marster, for they could see him lyin on the
ground jest like he was dead. But he wasn't dead though,
only out of his senses from the hurt an loss o' blood,' says
L ' He had fell down/ says I, 'in a sort of a wet, marshy
place, an bomby the water cooled him like, an he sorter
come too/ says I, 1 and raised himself on his elbow to try
and git up. When the Injuns seed that/ says I, 1 they sot
up a mighty yell, an fired away at ole Marster ; an some
on 'um run towards him to take his har — as grandaddy
used to say/ says I ('that means to sculp him, Mr. Ma-
lachi,' says I), 1 but our people poured sich a hot fire into
'um/ says I, ' that they gin that up as a bad job, an kep
in the woods. Ole Marster was so weak, that he had fell
back, but he tried to git up agin, an the Inj uns they fired
away on him agin, an whenever he moved the least bit in
the world, rip — rap — rap — rap, fell the bullets all round
him,' says I. 1 When grandaddy saw that, says he, Joe's
dead, says he, if I kin bar that any longer, says he, an
with that,' says I, ' he lipped over the trenchracnte, an run
down the hill, an tuk ole Marster on his back, an toted
him up into the fort. I heern him say/ says I, ' that the
bullets fell like hail round him, but nairy one teched him.
One on 'um knocked off ole Marster 's hat, an made a hole
through it, you could put your thumb in — its thar to this
day — an grandaddy, he went back,' says I, ' an picked up
the hat,' says I, ' an got into the fort, 'thout so much as a
scratch/ says L 'An so, arter sich Whig doins as them
in the fambly,' says I, 1 you kin see why I take up for the
Whigs so boldly, Mr. Malachi,' says I.

" ' Well, stag,' says he, ' your ole Marster must a been
a good man, and your grandaddy too,' says he. ' But
them Wigs in your country is Yankee Wigs, an them
Tories is Yankee Tories. I spose your Wigs is good an
spectable, but the Tories is the spectable ones here,' says
he. ' I allers has voted for the Tories/ says he, ' becase
they's honest. They don't go for no more liberty than
they kin possibly help, an they says so,' says he, ' an you
know whar to find 'um,' says he; 'whul them Wigs is
allers saft-soapin the people 'bout liberty an reform, an

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

all that, an jest takes it out in talkin ; they never does
nothin,' saj^s he ; ' I'm gwine to vote this time for intrust,
not for principal,' says he. 'I'll split my vote, one an
one,' says he.

" ' What do you spect 'urn to give you ?' says L

" ' They's promised to git me Parkins' place,' says he,
'to hand ropes an sweep the pier-head,' says he, 'an ef I
thought they wouldn't be as good as thar word, I'd jest
see 'um on tother side o' Jordan,' says he, ' fore I'd vote
for 'um. They's promised more places than they kin fill,
I know,' says he, ' but I hope they means to do far with
this one,' says he.

Presently we seed Mr. Tucker, an Mr. Malachi, he
says, says he, ' I spose I shall have the place,' says he.

' How do you mean to vote,' says Mr. Tucker.

' One an one,' says Mr. Malachi.

' You must vote, then, for Sir Alexander and Mr. Van-
start,' says he, an he writ the names down on a card for
him.

Arter a while, the percessions begun to form, an then
I saw Mr. Andrews, the gen'l'man that was Mare, wThen
we come down to see that Govner Koshoot, the great
Hongry man. An Mr. Andrews he spoke up powerful
fine for the Whig candidates, and called one on 'um ' a
larned gen'l'man,' an tother one, he said, says he, ' was
dentified with a great company, whose intrusts was the
intrusts of the town of Southampton ;' an then he said
somethin 'bout 'Peninsular steamboats,' and somethin
that sounded like 'go ahead;' an when somebody put a
question to him that he did'nt like, he said somethin bout
'dash his wig! an dash his folly.' Presently, he begun
agin, an said somethin 'bout the slow rate Lord Darby's
Goverment had been travellin at, but ef the Whigs only
could turn him out, ' they'd put the Goverment train up
to faster speed ; then they'd go in a express train with a
ingin named economy.' Here a ole sailor in the crowd
sung out, says he, 'Blast your eyes,' says he, 'stick to
your coaches Mr. Mare, you're too slow to get upon a
ingin.' This sorter put the Mare out a bit, sir [you
know he is a coachbuilder, sir] ; but he did mighty well,
I thought, for a coachmaker, sir. While this was a gwine

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

on, the strikers for the candidates was mighty busy can-
wassin the voters, as Jack Malachi called it, though I
did'nt see any canwass myself, sir, cepin on the ships,
sir."

"Did you see any money given for votes," Buck?"
said I.

" No, Marster, I did'nt. I heern people on both sides
say thar was sich things gwine on ; but I did'nt see 'urn.
Ef you'd a heerd one side 'buse tother, you'd a made sure
'twas done. ' You're bought and paid for,' one man 'ud
say to another. ' You're booked in the Mare's coach, you
are,' says he. An tother one, he says, 1 It's a lie,' says
he, 1 its you that's bought. You're a five punder,' says
he. An so they went on ; but ef thar was any money
paid for votes, it was onbeknowns to me. But I heerd
lots o' promises made by the strikers, of what they'd do
for the 'lectors, ef they'd vote with 'urn,

Bomby the percessions marched to the polling booth,
an. then sich cheers an yellin, as one side 'ud give for thar
candidates, an tother 'ud groan at 'um, sir. Then tother
side 'ud yell, an tother 'ud groan. An they 'ud make all
sorts o' noises to keep from hearin each other. Nobody
was perlite, but the candidates, an they was very much
so, bowin and smilin at the 'lectors. But the way that
crowd yelled an shouted, sir, would a beat a camp-meetin,
holler ! Presently, when the crier got some silence, that
everlastin Mare [I bleve it was] got up, an perposed our
candidates. I calls 'um our candidates, Marster, becase I
allers could'nt help takin sides, when I seed two roosters
a fightin, an I spose I would a jined one side any how, in
my feelins ; but main thing was, thar was Whigs in our
country, an the Tories was 'spised thar. Well, whoever
it was perposed our candidates, he made out that the
whole world was a lookin on, and would be turned topsa-
turvy ef they was'nt 'lected. Then our side, we hurra'd
an shouted mightly, an tother side they groaned and bel-
lered, tell you'd a thought there was a little yearthquake
an heap o' big bulls in the crowd. That made our Mare
mad, sir, sartain, an he turned so red in the face, tell he
was almost black, an he said, ' dash his wig, ef that wa-s'nt
too bad.' But the madder he got, the more fuss they
9 g

98 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

made, 'tell they drownded his voice, sir, an all he could
do was to grin, an make motions an shake his fists at
urn. Then somebody perposed the tother candidates, an
he made out like all the world and the rest o' mankind
was a lookin on, an would be turned topsaturvy tother
way, ef thar men was'nt 'lected. The other side people
they cheered an yelled, an we hissed, an groaned an
hooted with all our mights. But I dont think we done
it as well as tothers did, becase we 'spected to beat the
race, an we was'nt so spiteful like. Then come the time
for the candidates to make speeches, an the way they was
sweet on the free an independent 'lectors was the way.
AH on um agreed 'bout that adzacly, though they
couldn't set horses together 'bout nothin else, sir, cepin
that everything good was in thar party, an everything
bad in tother, an that ef they was not all 'lected the
country 'ud go to pot.

" But to my mind, Marster, the best speech was made
by our Sir Coburn. I can't 'member it adzacly, but I
know he told um what nice people they was, an how
honest he was, an allers had been, ef he had been a Tory
onct (I was sorry to hear that), an how he had quit the
Tories, becase they was gwine wrong, an how the Whigs
was right, leastwise the present time Whigs. 'As for
them first Whigs,' says he, 1 them Walpul Whigs,' says
he, ' they mought a been corrupt,' says he, ' but they was
the old set,' says he ; ' the present Whigs,' says he, ' is the
men what has made sweetenins cheap, an 'bolished slavery
an corn-laws.' Oh, he spoke up powerful fine, I tell you,
Marster ! I didn't think so much of tother speeches.
Still, tother ones done mighty well, an ricommended thar
side powerful strong. Well, sir, then the 'lection come
on, an our candidates they got in, an then me an Malachi
went home.

" When we got to Mr. Malachi's house, we found a ole
nigger thar, name Johnson, who was waitin to see me,
onderstandin I was from Ameriky. He lived somewhar
close by, he said, an had come from North Carlina. He
blonged onct, good while ago, he said, to a Scotch genT-
man, name McDaniel, who was a marchant in North Car-
lina, an was tuk with a gallopin kunsumtion, an started

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

to come over to this country to see his kin, an git cured,
ef lie could ; but he died on the passage. The oie man
said he come long with him as his sarvant, to nurse him ;
which when he died he give him a little property, an sot
him free. An so he staid in this country; but he wouldn't
a done so, he said, ef he hadn't a got married mighty
yearly arter gitten here, an he allers had been powerful
sorry he stayed ; for he was ' nuff happier as a slave in
North Carlina/ says he, than he was here. We sot up
mos all night, talkin ; for I knowed heap .o' people that
come from North Carlina to Georgy, what he knowed, or
had heerd about ; an 'peared like hit done the man good,
sir, to talk 'bout ole times in North Carlina.

" 1 Ah, Mr. William Buck,' says he, (he was a mighty
perlite ole nigger, Marster,) ' ah,' says he, 'ef I could only
jest see the ole North State onct more, an git some raal
Macklenburg big hominy, fried with midlin, an hear a
good corn-song, an go to a camp-meetin, 'pears like I
could die more happier,' says he.

"'Did you have corn-shuckins much in your time,'
says L

'"That we did/ says he; 'an I was much of a man
round the pile, sir, I tell you ; an bless your heart alive,
man, it would a done you good to a heern me give out the
corn songs,' says he; 'speshly Stompin-down-my-Eiley,
an Miss Aggy-pulled-the-whip-saw-clown. Ah me ! All
that's past,' says he, ' an I never shill hear the like o'
that agin, I reckin,' says he.

" ' Would you like to hear a corn-song now, Mr. John-
son ?' says I.

" ' Sartain,' says he.

" So I started right off, Marster, into one on our ole
shuckin songs."

"What was it, Buck?" said I, quite interested in his
story.

" You've often heerd it, sir —

' Dis nigger am a mighty man,

Oh, Bomba-lidg-a-bombala !
My head is made o' big bombshells,
Oh, Bomba-lidg-a-bombala !
My tooths is made o' glass bottels,
Oh, Bomba-lidg-a-bombala

100 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

" That will do," said I; "I remember it."

" The ole man farly roared out the scorus, Marster, he
did, tell I should a thought they mought a heerd him out
to sea. ' Hurra !' says he, when I stopped, ' that's the raal
grit, Mr. Buck. Give us another, Mr. Buck,' says he.
Then I sot off in what Mars. Joe allers called his faverite :

I went down to Shinbone Alley,
Long time ago !

An thar I saw ole Johnny Gladdin,
Long time ago !'

1 Fore I could git any further, Marster, the ole nigger he
shouted an jumped up, he did, an kotch hold o' my hand,
an shuk hit, an cried like a child, he did. Jest then
somebody knocked at the door, an who should hit be but
one o' the pleece ; an he gin us orders to 1 shet up our
infarnal noise, an go to bed.' Jest to think of the British
tory callin sich songs as them a 1 infarnal noise,' Marster !
Howbeever, we thought it best to mind what he said, an
so we done it."

This is all I can afford to give you of Buck's narrative,
Major. I will add that there was a petition against Sir
A. Cockburn and Mr. Wilcox, the successful candidates at
Southampton, and John Malachi (who never got Parkins's
place, by the by, as he said) and others were witnesses
before the Commission. But it has come- to nothing, I
believe. We must look elsewhere for strong evidence of that
bribery and corruption which is so prevalent on such occa-
sions in this country. I will remark, further, that the ma-
terial facts stated by Buck as to this election were sustained
by the evidence before the Commissioners. I attended
the polling in London, at one place, for a short time ; but,
owing to the peculiar character of this constituency, the
proceedings did not present those features which are
found in the smaller towns and boroughs, and more espe-
cially characterize elections in this country. In my next
you shall hear more of these. For the present, you must
rest satisfied with the assurance that I am, dear Major,

Y'r ob't serv't and cousin,

To Maj. Joseph Jones, P. Jones.

Pincville, Ga., U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

101

LETTEE XL

SPECIMENS OF VARIOUS ELECTION BRIBERY COMMISSIONS.

, London, July 1st, 1853.

Deae Major : — I comply with, my promise, and send
you extracts from the proceedings of various other bribery
commissions, which were appointed by the House of Com-
mons, upon petitions growing out of the elections of 1852,
to which I have referred.

" KINGSTON-UPON-HULL.

On Saturday this Conmrittee renewed their inquiry at twelve
o'clock. The members were the Hon. Mr. Labouchere (chair-
man), Mr. W. Bagge, Mr. Raikes Currie, Mr. R. Davison, and
Hon. H. F. Berkeley.

The examination of John "Walker was continued. He
stated that he had received several sums of money from Wilde,
for the purpose of the election, and that he paid for refresh-
ment for several voters, Wilde told him generally there was
1 plenty of tin,' but he did not say where he got it from.

Cross-examined : Was never called upon by Wilde to ren-
der any account, but received from Wilde altogether between
£30 and £40. Witness had received £50 for his evidence
before the Committee. Did not consider this bribery [laughter].
Rollett came to him to get the information he had given in his
evidence, and they talked together 1 about the baseness of the
electoral system generally,' and this had been a standing
opinion of witness for many years [laughter]. Prior to the
passing of the Reform Bill, a freeman always got £2 for a
split vote, and £4 for a plumper ; but since that system was
abolished, the new voters were the most difficult to manage.
They did not know their price. Witness was speaking of the
£10 householders in the former case. Now the ' market price '
had dwindled down to 30s. a head. There was also the cus-
tom, on both sides, of giving refreshment. It was usual to set
down a freeman as for six days' pay. Some did not get paid ;
9*

102

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

and had it been otherwise, there would not have been the
bother of this petition [laughter]. Out of between 4000 and
5000 voters polled at the last election, witness would say that
1000 were accessible by this means. The practice had existed
less extensively at this election than at former ones. Voters
were ' set down ' as messengers, not for employment, but for
their votes. There were none of the ' open houses' of the old
time, but voters were introduced by a member of the Commit-
tee to the landlord of a tavern, and they were then allowed to
order and have what they liked. Witness would say that be-
tween 400 and 500 voters were 'set down' in this way at Sa-
ville street — the term ' setting down,' in Hull, meaning that
they were to have 30s. each for the colorable employment of
messenger, but in reality, for giving their votes. The mem-
bers of the district committees sent voters to Saville street
with notes for this purpose, addressed 'XYZ,' alias to
Wilde, who told the bearer it was 'all right;' the voter's
name was set down, and he knew he would be paid for his
time.

Charles Robinson, block-maker and freeman, snid, on the
night before the election, he was walking with other voters,
and met Walker, who took them to 21 Saville street, and had
their names 'set down.' They went in singly ; and afterwards
to the Queen's Arms, where they were treated with drink.

Walker gave witness the 30s. as they were going to the
poll ; and the other men subsequently received the 30s

The Committee here adjourned to Monday.

HUDDERSFIELD.

The Committee in this case, which also met for the first
time on Saturday, were, Right Hon. Spencer Walpole, Mr. G.
Tomline, Mr. James McGregor, Mr. T. A. Mitchell, and Mr.
F. W. West.

Mr. Edwin James opened the case for the petitioners, as one
of bribery and general treating. Mr. Stansfield's Committee
held its sittings at the George, which was one of the finest
hotels in the West Riding, and the members of that Commit-
tee were charged with having taken an active part in the mal-
practices committed. Mr. Willan came forward in opposition
to Mr. Stansfield, in consequence of a requisition signed by

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

103

500 voters, and at three o'clock on the day of the election 'Sir.
Willan was actually at the head of the poll by a majority of
fourteen votes; but at this critical moment, a volley of intoxi-
cated voters, who had been bottled up at the George, were
suddenly uncorkscrewed, rushed to the poll, voted for Stans-
lield, and gained the election [laughter]. The learned counsel
continued to state he should show that treating of the most
barefaced and unblushing description went on at the George,
and that payment was made to publicans in respect of votes
given in 1847 and votes at the last election.

Evidence was then called to show the existence of the Com-
mittee at the George, of the system of paying publican's bills,
and that, out of sixty-five publicans on the register, fifty voted
for Stansfield.

The Committee adjourned to to-morrow Monday)

GUILDFORD.

This Committee, consisting of Lord Seymour (chairman),
Hon. R. A. Christopher, Mr. R. B. Sheridan, and Hon. W. E.
Duncombe, assembled at eleven o'clock.

Mr. Serg. Kinglake opened the case, describing it as one of
bribery and treating. Mr. Thurlow claimed the seat, on the
ground that, on a scrutiny, he would be able to prove a ma-
jority over Mr. Bell. The bribery and treating resolved itself
into colorable employments, such as flagmen and alleged pro-
mises of appointments on railways, of one or more influential
ones of which Mr. Mangles was director.

Thomas Rivers, a sawyer, of Guildford, deposed that
White, an active agent of Mr. Bell, promised him and his bro-
ther to get them places if they would vote for Mr. Bell.
They were employed as flagmen, and voted for Bell.

G. Causton deposed to having paid voters employed as flag-
men, and was particular in paying none who were not voters.
Paid them 5s. a day, and had abundance of money from
White, from whom he received, in all, £15.

Voters Carpenter and Tilbury were examined, but their evi-
dence contained no point of particular interest, and the Com-
mittee adjourned till to-morrow.

104

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD \ OR,

RYE — MR. MACKINNON UNSEATED.

Mr. Merewether and Mr. Rodwell appeared for the petition-
ers, and Mr. Edwin James and Mr. Welsby for Mr. Mackin-
non, the sitting member.

Prior to the commencement of the proceedings, Major Cur-
tis, who was standing in the body of the committee-room, ad-
dressing the chairman, said, 1 1 hope there will be no compro-
mise of this. I believe it is going to be attempted. I will be
no party to it.'

The Hon. Chairman : We cannot entertain anything of the
kind.

Mr. Mere wether then opened the case, stating that Major
Curtis, the old member for Rye, having retired, Mr. Pomfret
opposed Mr. Mackinnon at the last election, having received a
requisition from 260 voters, out of the total constituency of
510. The result of the poll, however, was, for Mackinnon
240 votes, for Pomfret 208 ; and it would be for the Commit-
tee to decide how it was that the 260 votes for Mr. Pomfret
had been reduced to 208. A key, however, to this, would be
found in the corrupt practices of treating that were carried
out. Mr. Curtis, having retired, lent his influence and interest,
and agents, in favor of Mr. Mackinnon, and gave a grand din-
ner at his place at Peasmarsh, to 300 voters, to celebrate his
own retirement from the representation, and Mr. Mackinnon's
appearance in his place. Messrs. Butler and J. Smith, former
agents of Mr. Curtis, carried on the arrangements of the com-
mittees on behalf of Mr. Mackinnon, and no fewer than thirty-
four open houses for drink and dinners were to be noted in
Rye alone, twenty of the landlords voting for Mackinnon.
A witness named Parsons was under examination, when,
Mr. James interposed, and said he was afraid that the din-
ner that had been given by Mr. Curtis would be found to be
so mixed up with Mr. Mackinnon's agents, that the Committee
would hold it to have been treating under the Act, and that
Mr. Mackinnon must submit to a resolution declaring that
bribery by treating, and through his agents, had taken place,
but without his personal knowledge, or any imputation on his
character.

The room was then cleared, and, on the re-admission of the
public, the chairman said he wished to know what course the
counsel for the petitioners intended to take, consequent on the
announcement from the representatives of the sitting members.

Mr. Merewether said he proposed, on behalf of his clients,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 105

to adduce sufficient evidence before the Committee to prove
the case of the dinner at Peasmarsh.

The Hon. chairman said that the Committee had anticipated
that would be so ; but it was their opinion, under the circum-
stances, that it was desirable they should take further time to
consider the course the Committee ought to pursue, and they
would therefore adjourn until Monday.

Evidence was then adduced with reference to the dinner at
Peasmarsh. Richard Lankester and J. E. Davey, voters for
Mackinnon, deposed to having been there, and that they were
regaled with meats and drinks, and the * port of Rye,' for
which they did not pay. Jeremiah Smith, land agent for Mr.
Curtis, and election agent for Mr. Mackinnon, spoke to having
ordered the dinner, which cost £220, but which Mr. Curtis had
not yet paid him, though he kept an open account with Mr.
Curtis.

The room was then cleared, the Committee deliberated, and
declared

' That W. A. Mackinnon was not duly elected to serve in the
present Parliament for the borough of Rye — that it was a
void electiou, and that he was, by his agents, guilty of
treating.

The chairman added, 'This resolution is founded upon a
point that arose in an earlier part of our proceedings, and I
therefore have to intimate that the Committee entertain doubts
whether they shall not think it their duty to take further pro-
ceedings under the circumstances of this case ; and therefore
adjourn until Monday, at twelve o'clock, when we shall expect
to see the parties here ; but on that day we shall not expect
you to be prepared with any witnesses.'

The Committee then rose.

CAMBRIDGE — MESSRS. MACAULAY AND AST ELL UNSEATED.

On Tuesday the Cambridge Election Committee re-assem-
bled, and Mr. Sergeant Wrangham announced that, as bribery
by the agents of the sitting members had been proved, he
could not successfully contest the charges made in the peti-
tion. But the sitting members were anxious to state to the
Committee that they were utterly unconnected with the acts
of corruption, and had done their utmost to prevent them.
The Committee then decided to hear the sitting members be-
fore the close of the case ; and as Mr. James, counsel for the
petitioners, stated he had a list of 100 persons, bribed with

106

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

£10 each, it was agreed that he should confine himself to somo
of the prominent cases.

Some witnesses were then examined, and several cases of
bribery were proved.

Mr. Macaulay then stated that Messrs. Balls and Fawcett,
of Cambridge, had told him that Mr. Astell had agreed to
stand for the borough, and that £1200 would be the expense.
Messrs. Macaulay and Astell advanced that sum, and also a
further sum of £200 ; but they specially insisted that no part
of the money should be expended in an illegal way. They
had never since demanded or received any account of how it
was expended, but they were both quite unconnected with, and
ignorant of, any acts of bribery or corruption.

Mr. James, in remarking on the acts of bribery, said it
could hardly be denied that the Carlton Club had supplied,
money for the purpose ; but the Reform Club, and the Carlton
Club, and the members of the House of Commons would be
doing themselves a great injustice if they wished to screen
such doings. It was all very well to say that the accounts of
the Carlton Club were audited and published. He (Mr.
James) did not mean to say that money for electioneering pur-
poses was supplied from the eight or ten guineas a year sub-
scription paid to the club, but from the private resources of the
members.

Mr. Ilildyard : Mr. James, you must confine yourself to a
statement of the facts. I cannot sit here and permit myself
to be addressed in this manner, as I know the accounts of the
Carlton are regularly audited. I also state that no sum is
subscribed by that club in any way for the purposes of elec-
tions, and I believe you are making a false statement when you
state that.

Mr. James said that, with reference to the courteous manner
in which Mr. Hildyard had told him he was making a false
statement, he of course received it as a counsel discharging
his duty.

Mr. Hildyard explained that he meant nothing personally
offensive.

After some discussion, the Committee consulted together on
the evidence ; after which, the chairman read the following
resolutions of the Committee :

'That Kenneth Macaulay, Esq., and John Harvey Astell,
Esq., were not duly elected as burgesses to serve in the pre-
sent Parliament for t lie borough of Cambridge. That the last
election for the said borough of Cambridge was a void elec-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

107

tioD. That Kenneth Macaulay and John Harvey Astell, Esqs.,
were, by their agents, guilty of bribery at the said election.
That it was proved that Charles Nurrish was bribed by the
payment of £10; Joseph Dealtry, by the payment £G 10s. ;
Henry Mansfield, by the payment of £10 ; George Richard-
son, by the payment of £10; John Sharman, by the payment
of £10 ; Thomas Butcher, by the payment of £5; W. Baker,
by the payment of £4 ; John Hawkes, by the payment of
£19 ; Thomas Lee, by the payment of £7, and £1 in furni-
ture. That Samuel Long, Joseph Sterne, William Taylor,
William Feake, and William Gilbert,' were guilty of bribery
at the last election for the said borough of Cambridge ; but it
is not proved that such bribery was committed with the know-
ledge or consent of the sitting members. That there is reason
to believe that corrupt practices have extensively prevailed at
the last election for the said borough of Cambridge.

" DERBY.

On Saturday, the select Committee appointed to try the
merits of this petition met in committee-room No. 2. Sir John
Pakington, chairman ; Col. Knox, Mr. Moncrieff, Mr. Tudway,
and Mr. Corballv.

This Committee re-assembled yesterday, Mr. Robert Ingham
in the chair. The other members of the Committee were Mr.
W. Stirling, Mr. W. M. Milner, Mr. J. B. Stanhope, and Hon.
A. Kinnaird. The committee-room was much crowded

Sergeant Fern, of the Derby police, deposed to having, on
the moruing of the election, gone to the County Tavern, in con-
sequence of instructions from the last witness. Certain signals
were communicated to him. He went up stairs, and at the top
met Kallow, who attempted to stop him, but witness put his
finger to the side of his nose [laughter], upon which Kallow
said, "That's all right." Witness also said, "It's ad right;
Radford sent me." Kallow allowed witness to go into the
room, where he found Morgan before a table with a small book
and two or three pieces of paper. He took Morgan into cus-
tody and searched him. In Morgan's pocket he found one
£10, and six £5 notes of the Bank of England, and in his
trousers' pockets a bag containing £134 in sovereigns and half
sovereigns, and the celebrated " W. B." letter. He also found
four cards on Morgan ; two of these cards had on them, "Mr
T. Morgan," and the other two, "Mr. T. Morgan, Chester."

108

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ; OR,

The pieces of paper he found on the table turned out to be
bank notes [laughter]. Witness lodged Morgan in the lock-
up. Asked him his name, and where he came from, and he
replied it was on his card. Next day Morgan told witness he
came from Shrewsbury, and not from Chester. Witness asked
him why he put Chester on his card, and Morgan replied, be-
cause Frail had expressed a wish to him that he should do so.
Morgan also stated to witness that the night before the elec-
tion a man had brought him a bag of gold, and in the morning
another and some notes. The man who brought the money
was a tallish thin man, dressed in drab clothes. It was nearly
dark when he brought him the first money, aud he therefore
thought he should not know him again, unless he had some
conversation with him. Witness knew Thomas Lund, who an-
swered this description. Morgan told witness he paid the
money away to persons who brought checks. He entered the
numbers of the checks in his book, and the sums he paid for
each, adding that " if they had not found his book they would
have been bothered." Morgan said he did not know that the
persons he gave the money to were voters, and that when he
was coming from Shrewsbury he thought it was to act as a
poll-clerk, and that if he had really known what they wanted
him for he would have seen them hanged first [laughter].
Morgan also told witness that if he had been in the room two
minutes earlier, he would have seen a man in a brown coat, who
had paid away twice as much money as Morgan. Morgan also
said Derby was a poor place ; that they gave as much money
for one vote at Shrewsbury as they gave at Derby for twenty
[laughter]. The money the Derbyites had given him would
not have lasted him two hours at Shrewsbury.

Cross-examined : Did not pump Morgan ; Morgan indeed
did not require pumping [laughter], for he had been imbibing
that which was calculated to make him loquacious, i. e., brandy
and water [laughter]. On their way to the lock-up they had
two quarts of ale. The magistrates who took Morgan's state-
ment were of both political parties ; Morgan was confused and
excited, and on hearing the noise outside the court said, "tell
'cm if I get free I'll give them a few barrels of ale." When
witness arrested Morgan he fell apparently stupefied over the
tire-place, and exclaimed " Lord deliver us"' [laughter] !

J. W. Mellor and G. Hervey, constables of the Derby police,
corroborated the previous evidence, and produced the book
spoken of by Fern as being before Morgan on the table.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

109

Charles Bird, messenger to Mr. HorsfalPs committee, was
engaged by Mr. Simpson at the last election, at 4s. a day.
Mr. Webster was there frequently, on the occasion of canvass-
ing for Mr. Horsfall. Mr. Webster directed letters in the
committee-room, and Mr. Gillam assisted him. Saw the Coxes
there. Saw Mr. Walker, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Lewis, and Mr.
Mosely, and witness voted for Horsfall.

On cross-examination witness said he was not kicked down
stairs by Mr. Horsfall for being drunk, but he was shoved
down [laughter]. Was not drunk, neither was he sober, but
a little amidships [laughter].

. The Committee then at four o'clock adjourned to twelve to-
morrow (Monday).

During the proceedings a list of from 120 to 130 voters,
stated to have been bribed, and upwards of 100 persons who
were stated to have bribed them, was handed in to the Com-
mittee."— Observer, March 1th, 1853.

Here is what the editor of the Observer says of these
proceedings and others like to them:

"the election committees.

The cause of the Ballot comes on apace. Bribery seems to
be more rampant ; at all events, it is more bold than ever.
Fourteen election petitions, terminating in unseating the mem-
bers on the grounds of bribery and treating, and that, too, when
fifty others yet remain to be disposed of, are strong evidences
that the present system, with all its guards and contrivances
against the offence, is very little better than a mere sham. The
detection of the offence has been much facilitated of late ; but
detection is not enough ; it is prevention which is required.
Now, as long as men hope that bribery will not be discovered
by an opponent, or will not be betrayed by a supporter, they
will practice it. Nothing but the assurance that though they
may practice it, they will practice it in vain, will ever restrain
them. An effective ballot would produce this result, and is
the only thing that will produce it. While you know that if
Hodge takes your money, he will in 999 cases out of 1000 give
you his vote, you will (or at least your agents will, for now no
candidate ever perpetrates bribery !) offer him money for his
vote. But if it was once thoroughly understood, that though
Hodge might take the money, he might not give the vote, and
that there were no means of knowing whether he did give it or
10

110

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

not, the money would not be offered. Who is there that ever
thinks of giving payment to a stranger to go and deliver a
message a mile off, when he is well aware that, though he may
afterwards find the message has not been delivered, he can
never hope to discover the rogue who took his money but did
not perform the service for it ? And the case is still stronger
as to the giving of the vote than as to the delivery of the mes-
sage ; for while the latter is a lawful, the former is an unlawful
thing, and therefore the promise to perform it is a promise not
only not binding in morals or in law, but is one of which morals
permit and law commands the disregard." — Observer, March
1th, 1853.

Allow me to present you with a few more rich speci-
mens, in the following : —

" COCKERMOUTH.

The proceedings in this Committee directed against General
Wyndham, the other member, possessed no features of parti-
cular interest. The general tenor of it was, that a number of
flag bearers, employed by the " yellow party" were paid after
the election by Ratley, and were billetted in bodies of 12 to
20 at different public houses, the landlords being voters.

EvideLce was also called to prove agency, and one witness
deposed that his employment was to ' take off his hat and
shout' for Wyndham, for which he was paid." — Daily News,
mh, 1853.

" THE CANTERBURY BRIBERY COMMISSION.

The Commissioners, Messrs. Slade, Chisholm Anstey, and
Birchara, reassembled on Monday, and Mr. Alderman Brent,
on being called, said he could produce no colored tickets for
any elections, except for the year 1847, transcribed in Mr.
Rutter's book. Witness had always been a liberal at the elec-
tions. A place was given to one of his sons 17 years ago, and
to a second son 14 years ago ; to the third son three years,
and to his fourth son just as the Whigs were going out, before
the Derby Government came in. He believed he never gave
Thomas Adams money. One of his sons is in Somerset House,
with a salary of £150 a-year, to be further advanced, and his
two other sons have £90 to £100 a-year, also advancing.
Witness sometimes used his influence successfully in obtaining
appointments for supporters of the Liberal members.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

Ill

Mr. Jonathan Rutter said : He is a Liberal. He kept the
accounts of the Liberals in 1847, and he voted then for Co-
nyngham and Sraythe. He, on that occasion, received £900
from each of the two candidates, and spent it all in the elec-
tion, except £14 8s. lOd. Part of the money supplied by the
Liberals was given to one Goodwin, who distributed it amongst
about 30 voters. Goodwin distributed the money, partly in
bribery and partly in treating. Jacobs, a broker, and Cobb,
were similarly employed. Witness never bribed a voter him-
self. But he gave other men money, knowing that it was to
be used in bribery [sensation]. £160'0 was spent at the elec-
tion for Conyngham and Smythe, £100 of which was spent at
the Fountain in good things [a laugh}. I (said the witness)
paid the money for the color tickets on the occasion, and a
very tedious job I had of it [a laugh]. The same system of
color tickets was adopted at the election previous to 1847.

Mr. Bircham : lama member of the Reform Club, and my
experience, Colonel Romilly, is the same as yours. I know
of the existence of a private fund from general rumor, but who
are the parties into whose hands the money is paid, or through
whose hands it passes, I know nothing [applause].

Colonel Romilly here said he had to contradict an imputa-
tion that the object in not resorting to corrupt practices on his
side was because ifc was contemplated to unseat the opposite
party on petition. No such idea was entertained. They
thought they had good prospects of success.

Mr. Alderman Brent was here recalled, and said that £450
was paid to his account, and which appeared in his banker's
book. He paid £200, the balance of it remaining, to Mr. Cop-
pock, and nothing passed between them on the subject beyond
a joke by Coppock, to the effect that "the smallest donations
were thankfully received" [laughter].

Mr. Alderman Plummer, deputy chairman of the elections'
committee, deposed that he had known of the existence of the
color system at Canterbury since 1845, and he had always
opposed it. He was the only person that did so.

George Goodwin, brewer, said he took an active part for
Conyngham and Smythe in 1847. He got a list of 30 voters
from Rutter, with instructions to give them £5 a-piece for their
votes after they had polled for Conyngham and Smythe. The
rumor that he had put any of the money in his pocket was
false. He gave the names of three or four of the thirty per-
sons, but "if it were to save his life," he could not give the

112

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

remainder. (The chairman admonished him that he must give
them at a future period). He had no account of the way in
which the money was distributed.

Edward Southey deposed that he assisted Goodwin, but had
none of the money. The witness gave a droll account of his
having occasionally shifted from the " Blues" to the " Reds,"
and he repeated, amidst the derision of the audience, that he
had none of the money, but that the contract having been
made with the voters, he took them to the poll.

The Hon. Mr. Smythe deposed that he was successful in
1841 at a single election in Canterbury. He can't admit that
he came forward as a Conservative, or as a " Pink," or a
" Red ;" nor can he admit that when he stood in 1847, it was
a "Blue" [laughter]. His election in 1841 cost him £6000 or
£7000. He had no agent. He cannot tell who had the dis-
tribution of the money, but he knows that the money went out
of his pocket. His election in 1847 cost £1000. It was on a
less liberal scale than in 1841. The witness, before answering
further questions, wished to ask was he to be exempted from
criminating himself? The Chief Commissioner said that who-
ever gave his evidence there satisfactorily, would be entirely
exempted from penal consequences. Mr. Smythe then pro-
ceeded to state that in 1841, a very large issue of color tickets
occurred, viz., to the value of £2000. He has no documents
of them, as they were burnt by the advice of Mr. Lushington,
formerly governor of Madras. Witness' opponent was Mr.
H. Wilson, on whose side color tickets were also issued, the
two together being £4000. At the election for 1847 he handed
over £900 without reference to whether it was for legal
expenses, and knowing the character of the borough, he asked
no questions ; at any rate it was comparatively cheap [laugh-
ter]. The number of the names in the accounts connected with
bribery was 60. In 1841 the expenditure was larger on the
" Red" than on the "Blue" side. The money on the Blue side
is more dexterously managed and goes further [laughter]. The
Canterbury people, like the people in other boroughs, are very
backward in promising. Witness opposed bribery, but is
not prepared to say what he should have done in reference to
color tickets. He thinks that Mr. Gurney Crowdell, the chair-
man of what is called the Conservative Club, received some of
the £6000 or £7000, of which £2000 was paid before the elec-
tion, and the remainder afterwards. Of the £7000, £400 was
paid in respect of a petition. The Canterbury petition was
paid off against the St. Albans [laughter]. I don't think

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

113

(said Mr. Smythc) it was done by Brown or Coppock, but by
the " whip" of the party. I was very much astonished and
gratified at it.

The Hon. Butler Johnstone deposed that he and Mr. Gipps
were successful candidates at the late election, but were after-
wards unseated. He and Mr. Gipps had coalesced, and each
paid £300 into Mr. Kingford's bank. During his canvass the
freemen used to come up to him and ask him favors, and he
said- to them, " Do you know who you are talking to — do you
want to ruin me ?" He had heard that the " Blue" party were
trying to lay a trap for him to bring about a petition, and he
suspected it. Had paid £1300 in all as the expense of his
election. Wished it included in the expense of the petition.
He understood that there were a great many color tickets du-
ring the election. He was told that the freemen of Canterbury
were legitimately entitled to it. He understood that both
sides always had colored tickets, and in his unsophisticated inno-
cence he thought they had [laughter]. After he had paid the
last £300, Dr. Lochee said something about a furl her sum
being required, and he was fully prepared to advance it ; but
Dr. Lochee said, " You have paid £1000, and I do not think
you ought to be called upon to pay any more ;" but he was
afraid of Alderman Brent, and what in Canterbury was called
"the Bifron's purse," that was the purse of the Marchioness
Conyngham [laughter]. The marchioness had a very large
income, and it was rumored that when she saw the election going
against her son, Sir William Somerville, she would come clown
handsomely with her thousands, as she was understood to have
done [loud laughter]. When he heard this, and that the mar-
chioness' purse was to be opened against him, he felt fairly in
the fight, and that he would not be beaten even by her [laugh-
ter]. He understood also that the other side were prepared
to have recourse to bribery, but he was anxious there should
be no act of bribery committed by either him or his friends.
Heard of the vacancy at Canterbury,' through Brown, the par-
liamentary agent, and became a candidate from wishing to
serve Lord Derby's Government. Understood that the color
ticket system had been in existence half a century in Canter-
bury on both sides.

The Committee then adjourned to next day.

The Commissioners sat again on Thursday, and a witness
named George Davey deposed that he paid three voters named
White £6 each for their votes, and to prevent them from voting
for the "Reds."

114 ' THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

James Godwin named eleven other voters whom he had
bribed in 1847. "Witness was exchequered that year for £1900,
and Government had called on him to pay £100. Lord A.
Conyngham agreed to use his influence with the Excise for
witness, if witness supported him at the election, and they both
performed their promises.

Mr. Kelson, builder and surveyor, deposed to having dis-
pensed bribes in 1847, by order of Bennett, when the election
was "getting desperate." In 1852, Mr. Pont gave him £160,
with which witness bribed forty voters. There was a body of
electors in Canterbury, called the " Butter Market Troop," led
by Mr. Mathews, a magistrate. Pont gave witness £10 to go
away to the Isle of Man, when the Committee sat on the Can-
terbury election, and sent another £10 after him.

F. Cobb deposed that he got £35 from Rutter, and he gave
Beale £5 for a pair of " straps" [laughter], as a blind for his
vote.

Southey was re-called, and denied having received any money,
but said that he paid £50 of his own for treating, in 1841. He
had always been foolish with his money at elections, but never
had received any recompense.

J. Yincent, of the Builders' Arms, got £60 from Pont at
the last election. He kept £15 for himself, and bribed voters
with the remainder.

G. F. Smith, manager of the color ticket department, said
nearly £1600 was spent in tickets in 1841, and £365 in 1852.
There were color tickets at Sir B. Brydge's election, and at
the county election. The last election for Canterbury was the
poorest he had ever known ; he had spent thousands before,
and only hundreds then.

Samuel Clint was employed to ascertain the price of the
voters, and found that they ranged from £5 to £10 each.

The Commissioners then adjourned to next day." — OcVr,
May 23c/, 1853.

Here follows some specimens of the manner in which
these elections are managed in the land of the shillalah :

"CLITHEROE.

The Committee on Monday came to the following resolution,
by which Mr. M. Wilson is unseated :

That the Committee had unanimously determined that Mat-
thew Wilson, Esq., was not duly elected as a burgess to serve

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAKT.

115

in the present parliament for the borough of Clitheroc. That
the said election for the borough of Clitheroe was a void elec-
tion. That Matthew Wilson, Esq., was, by his agents, guilty
of bribery or treating at the last election for the said borough ;
but that no act of bribery or treating was proved to have been
committed with the consent or knowledge of the said Matthew
Wilson, Esq. That it was proved that Henry Taylor was
bribed with the payment of £30. That extensive and syste-
matic treating, together with other corrupt and illegal prac-
tices, prevailed at the last election for the said borough. That
violent and tumultuous proceedings appear to have taken place
at the said election ; and that hired bands of men, armed with
sticks and bludgeons, were introduced into the said town for
purposes of undue influence and intimidation. Mr. Sergeant
Wrangham applied to have the opposition to the petition de-
clared frivolous and vexatious ; but the Chairman stopped
him, and said there was no chance of the Committee acceding.
The learned counsel then withdrew the application, and the
proceedings terminated." — Observer, March 1th, 1853.

" MAYO.

The inquiry before this Committee proceeds on the petition
of Sir Robert Lynch Blosse, of Alhavallee, Mayo, and of W.
Kearney, of Bullenville, and other electors, alleging that the
return of Mr. Ouseley Higgins and of Mr. Moore, the sitting
members, was obtained by intimidation, violence, and outrage,
exercised towards electors in the interest of Colonel M'Alpine,
the unsuccessful candidate, who, with his agents and friends,
was by large bodies of persons, riotously assembled, and incited
by Messrs. Higgins and Moore, forcibly detained in their hotel
at Castlebar on the nomination day, and prevented from attend-
ing the nomination until the arrival there of a troop of cavalry
and the police, under whose escort they had to be conducted to
the Court-house. It is also charged that for several days
before the election, riotous and tumultuous assemblages took
place, and that the supporters of Colonel M'Alpine were
assailed, beaten, and injured.

The petitioners were represented by Mr. O'Malley, Q. C,
and Mr. Bovill. Counsel for Mr. Higgins were Mr. Edwin
James, Q. C, Mr. Meagher, Mr. W. P. Hale, and Mr. James
C. O. Dowd. Mr. Moore had retained on his behalf Mr. Ser-
geant Kinglake, Q. C, and Mr. Wells.

116

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

The committee-room was crowded during the day, and
amongst those present was a sprinkling of Roman Catholic
priests, who are alleged to have taken a conspicuous part in
promoting the return of the sitting members.

The allegation of want of sufficient qualification against Mr.
Moore is abandoned.

Mr. O'Malley opened the case for the petitioners at consi-
derable length.

After a discussion as to the admissibility of the poll-books,
on the ground of their not having been tendered for seal and
signature to Mr. Higgins, which the Committee overruled.

Captain Archdall was sworn and examined. — He deposed
that he was a captain in the 52d regiment at Swinford, one of
the polling places, during the interval from the 19th to 28th
July. On the 23d, there was a great mob and disturbance,
and the violence of the mob was so directed against the voters
of Col. M'Alpine, that he had to escort them from a house
where they were shut up. Was of opinion that it was not safe
for these voters to go to the place of polling without a mili-
tary escort. The mob disregarded the bayonets, which knocked
off their hats and passed across their faces before they made
way through the mass. Was engaged in escorting the voters
the whole of the first day. The voters were threatened with
sticks and stones. Witness ordered his men to load, and the
Riot Act was read three times. The house in question was
shut up, with police inside and out, and the windows were shut
up. In the night witness was awoke by a noise, and saw a
man from the window with a gun, and the mob attacking him.
Several young poplars were cut down and thrown up into bar-
ricades with stones on the Castlebar road. The military cleared
these barricades.

Cross-examined by Mr. James. — Was an Irishman of the
county of Mallow. [Laughter.] Had not been at many elec-
tions. The proceedings of elections at Mayo were generally
rather lively. The escort he took on the 23d consisted of thirty
soldiers and three voters. [Laughter.] Did not know that
when he took them to the poll nearly the whole of the con-
stituency had been polled out ; but he believed it was so.
Witness was not frightened. [Laughter.] Was not aware
that there was a little pelting on both sides. Witness remained
in the neighborhood of the court-house, and remained there to
escort voters. Did not know that the voters were Roman
Catholic voters retained by Mr. Jackson, who was a Protes-
tant, in his house, thereby raising a furore. Was not suffi-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

117

ciently versed in election tactics to know what the " cooping"
of voters meant. Witness escorted on the 24th about fourteen
or fifteen voters altogether. Understood that many of these
had been up on the 23d, so that they might probably have
polled twice. They could not have been much frightened on
the 23d, if they went again on the 24th. The barricades were
about the height of the committee-table — [laughter] — and his
men cleared them away in about ten minutes. There were
a few boys and women behind them, as at Paris. [Laughter.]
There were no omnibuses to form the barricades, but they were
chiefly young poplars and stones. The poplars were eight or
eleven inches in diameter. The keepers of the barricades did
not resist the " charge." Bivouacked with his men in an empty
house. Did not in the process of escorting the voters see one
that was hurt.

By the Committee. — Some of the voters I escorted were
struck, but not injured. On the second day there was compa-
rative tranquillity. .

Mr. E. Day, a private gentleman in the neighborhood of
Swinford, was next examined. He deposed to having taken
four voters in the interest of Colonel M'Alpine to Swinford at
the last election, where he arrived at about three o'clock in the
morning. Thought it better to travel all night so as not to
encounter the mob. "When they arrived at Swinford, the mob
collected about the cars, and carried away three of the voters.
Witness jumped down from the car to recognize the assailants
and rescue the voters, and the mob took the gun he carried
from him. There was a good deal of violence and disturbance.
One of the voters returned the next morning, but the third dis-
appeared altogether, and did not vote. There were stones
thrown, and threats held out against the voters. All the county
tenants who came to support M'Alpine took refuge in his
house. It was a difficult matter to get any voters up ; they
were so much alarmed. The Roman Catholic priests were
very active on the occasion ; and when M'Alpine's voters came
up, they interfered with them, and urged them to vote for those
they called "the two most popular candidates."

Cross-examined. — Was not aware that there was any system
among Roman Catholic landlords to compel tenants to give
their votes. Three of these voters were tenants of properties
of which witness was the agent, and in his absence, when away
from one of the four voters he took, he voted for Moore and
Higgins. The voters had as much as they liked to eat, but he
did not know about drink at Swinford. Stones were thrown

118

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ) OE;

by the mob at the voters. Did not know that they were as
large as the tumbler on the table before counsel, but stones in
Ireland grew larger than that. [Laughter.]

Sir Robert Arbuthnot was under examination with reference
to intimidation at Ballinrobe, when the Committee adjourned
to this day." — Daily News, April 18th, 1853.

I am afraid that I have overtasked you, Major, with
the matter that I have furnished you in relation to elec-
tion bribery and corruption ; but I was anxious that what
I had said on the subject should be found to be fully borne
out by the facts. You will see that I have sent you only
comparatively small portions of the proceedings in a few
of the many Commissions before which bribery and cor-
ruption were proven. But my aim has been to furnish
just enough for you to form something of an opinion as
to the whole — enough for you to be satisfied that the re-
mark of Mr. Coppock before the St. Albans Commission,
which I have quoted, was well-nigh, if not wholly, cor-
rect ; and that the moral character of the people of this
country, as a whole, in the matter of the precious and in-
estimable right of suffrage, is tainted, foully tainted, with
fraud and corruption.

Respectfully, your friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 119

LETTEE XII.

PASSION OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE FOR BETTING AND HORSE-
RACING QUEEN'S VISITS TO THE RACE-FIELD QUEEN'S

PLATES — DONCASTER RACES — THE 'MARQUIS OF EXETER'S
AND DUKE OF GRAFTON'S "WINNINGS."

London, July 8th, 1853.

Dear Major : — I have intimated that the passion of
the people in this country for betting and horse-racing
seriously affects their moral character. This habit is in-
dulged in by all classes ; and the horse-race receives direct
encouragement from all — even from the Queen upon her
throne, to the ragged and crippled beggar, who stumps
his weary way to the Derby, and, as he proceeds, begs for
pence, which he will stake upon the event of the race.
When I said that the horse-race received encouragement
from the Queen, I meant that it was sanctioned as well
by the royal presence upon the race-field as by the more
substantial aid of the royal and national exchequer. You
will find both these statements confirmed by the following
extracts from English papers :

"The Queen and Prince Albert went to Ascot races on
Thursday, accompanied by the whole of Her Majesty's illus-
trious guests staying at the Castle. Her Majesty returned at
half-past five o'clock, and the same evening gave a grand din-
ner, which was served on the magnificent service of gold plate
in the Waterloo Gallery. Her Majesty had afterwards an
evening party." — Hull Packet, June llth, 1853.

(imperial parliament.)

" On the vote of £221,361 to defray the expenses of admin-
istration of the Poor-laws, a desultory conversation took place,
in which Sir H. Yerney, Sir J. Trollope, Messrs. Baines,
Hindley, and W. Williams took part. The vote was agreed to.

120

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

£1700 were voted for certain offices in Scotland, and £6464
for officers of the Lord Lieutenant's household in Ireland.

On this latter vote being proposed, Mr. W. Williams pro-
tested against a portion of it: viz., £1574 16s. 2d. for fifteen
Queen's plates. Public opinion was outraged by plates being
given for horse-racing.

Mr. Stanford supported the vote, as it had a tendency to
improve the breed of horses. In connection with this subject,
he called attention to the betting-houses, which were now the
foci of all the blackguardism in London.

Sir De L. Evans said he had received several letters com-
plaining of betting-houses.

Sir W. Joliffe, in the absence of Mr. Walpole, said that
betting-houses were under the most serious consideration of
Government, and measures were anxiously contemplated to
remedy the evil." — Observer, January 1th, 1852.

Conveniently blind, Mr. Stanford " supported the vote,
as it had a tendency to improve the breed of horses and
yet, though in the same breath he calls attention to the
fact that the betting-houses were foci of all the black-
guardism in London, he shuts his eyes to the effect of
these foci (receiving so much of their light as they do from
the encouragement of the great, the powerful, and the rich,
who indulge in horse-racing) upon the breed of men.

The subject did, indeed, attract the attention of Go-
vernment, and a bill has been passed with reference to the
reformation of these houses. But is this anything more
than skinning over of the wound? The betting-houses
were but one of the ulcers by which the great social
canker manifested itself on the surface, if I am not very
much mistaken. If I have rightly observed this people,
the passion of which I speak has incorporated itself, as it
were, with their very social constitution. Betting-houses,
like betting-books, are but instrumentalities by which the
great scheme of horse-racing, steeple-chase riding, etc.,
is operated.

I never found time to attend the races at Goodwood, or
at Epsom, which are the two most celebrated in England,
I believe ; but I did make a visit to Doncaster, another,
though a less famous, English stadium in Yorkshire. At
the instance of Mr. A , of A Hall, whom I have

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 121

already introduced to your acquaintanco, I met him at
these races in the autumn of 1852. The races com-
menced on Tuesday, the 14th of September ; but I did
not get there until Wednesday, the St. Leger day, as it
is called. I went by train, of course, and was reminded
of the throng which is found on our roads when our
people are repairing to mass-meetings, or to State agri-
cultural fairs. Though Don caster, as a race-course, be
not so fashionable or so famous as Goodwood or Epsom,
yet we have the authority of Southey for saying that
"A greater number of families are said to meet each
Other at Doncaster races than at any other meeting of the
same kind in England." My fellow-travellers were as
much excited, apparently, by these races, as ever you saw
our people agitated on their way to a mass-meeting which
constituted part of the machinery of a presidential cam-
paign. I must own, in passing, however, that we were
much more comfortably provided for, and protected in
our seats within the carriages, than are the passengers
upon our roads on the occasions to which I refer.

I was met, very soon after my arrival, by Mr. A ,

who had kindly taken care that I should be provided for
as to lodgings, etc. In the course of the day, I was intro-
duced by him to several notabilities. Some noblemen
with distinguished names, members of the House of Com-
mons, and gentlemen of eminent position, were either
thus introduced, or pointed out to me. So many people
have written about the race-courses in England, that the
subject is threadbare; and as my purpose is rather to
give you an idea of a system than to amuse you with
details, I shall not dwell upon these details now, but will
content myself with sending you a condensed statement
of what I witnessed. The following contains such a state-
ment :

"DONCASTER RACES.

Doncaster fully maintains its position amongst the most im-
portant race-meetings in the kingdom. And whilst retaining
a fair portion of aristocratic patronage, its popularity with
the million is fully upheld, notwithstanding the great and in-
creasing rivalry of the numerous meetings in other parts of the
11 * '

122

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

country. On the present occasion, the stewards were the Earl
of Derby, R. G. Lumley, and Lord Ribblesdale. The clerk
of the course was Mr. R. Johnston ; judge, Mr. Clark ; starter,
Mr. Hibburd. On Monday the Great Northern Station at
King's-cross was a scene of continual bustle, nearly all the
trains being heavily freighted, chiefly by the professionals of
the sporting world. The hunt after lodgings produced the
usual results — exorbitant prices. Nothing under eight or ten
guineas was talked of for even decent acconiinodatiou.

Wednesday. — The town was alive at an early hour, and
crowds poured in from all parts of the surrounding district, in
coaches, omnibuses, gigs, and other vehicles. The throng was
increased later by the arrival of monster trains from Sheffield,
York, Lincoln, Manchester, and other large towns, besides a
great influx of Londoners. The weather took an unfavorable
turn, and a heavy rain continued throughout the whole of the
afternoon, to the inconceivable mortification of the multitude,
especially those who had ventured forth without waterproofs
or umbrellas. There was, however, as numerous an attend-
ance as usual upon the St. Leger day. The following is a list
of some of the fashionables present: — The Marquises of Nor-
manby and Exeter, the Earls of Glasgow, Scarborough, Ches-
terfield, and Caledon ; Lords Maidstoue, Clifden, Exmouth,
Milton, Bolingbroke, Anson, Galway and lady, R. Clinton,
W. Powlett, John Scott, D. Kennedy, F. Kennedy, G. Man-
ners, Wenlock, F. G. Leveson Gower; Sirs G. Armitage, T.
Wichcote, C. Monk, 0. B. Houston, S. Blane, Robert Bell, J.
Trollope, R. Bulkely, Tatton Sykes, E. Baker, G. Boswell,
W. Booth, Robert Pigot and lady ; Hons. G. Anson, Colonel
Stanley, Captain Rous, F. Yilliers, G. W. Fitzwilliam, F.
Lawley, A. Ellis, H. Forester, Courtenay, Major Necdhani,
Admiral Paulett, Major Pitt, W. E. Buncombe and lady ; Ge-
nerals Hunter and Rietter ; Colonels Taylor and Wyndham ;
Captains Ramsden, Little, W. Peel, Haworth, Key, Oookson,
White, Dc Horsey, Ives, Hepworth, Thoroton, Lowry, Wal-
lers, Archdall, Cunningham, etc. ; Messrs. G. H. Boswell, W.
Bosville, Bowes, E. Denison, J. E. Denison, Drinkald, C. L.
Fox, G. Fitzroy, F. Fitzroy, Gregory, Greville, F. Foljambe,
Sandford Graham, W. E. Hughes, A. Heathcote, Honeywood,
A. Johnstone, Jaques, R. Newton, G. Littledale, R. G. Lum-
ley, Meiklam, Magenis, Milncr, Osbaldiston, R. E. Oliver,
Payne, Portman, Ramsden, R. Read, J. 31. Stanley, Skip-
worth, B. Stanhope, Thornhill, Thelluson, Vernon, Webster,
Wauchope, G. Wentworth, etc., etc.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

123

The Gap-betting in the evening was confined to Kingston,
Teddington, and Stilton — the two first named being so close
together that it was difficult to say which had the call ; Stil-
ton's party did not appear to be at all sanguine. For the Ce-
sarewitch several lots of twelve were taken against the field,
Lady Evelyn — who at one time was quoted at as little as eight
to one, but left off weak at eleven to one — and Le Juif, head-
ing the selections in every instance. It was mentioned in the
course of the day that the Marquis of Exeter had accepted
the stewardship vacant by the close of Lord Derby's term of
service.

The first event was a match for 200 sovs. between Lord
Clifdeifs Pelion against Lord Glasgow's Conspiracy, which
was won in a canter by the former. The St. Leger stakes for
three-year olds; the second to receive 100 sovs. out of the
stakes ; the winner to pay 100 sovs. towards expenses, 25 to
the judge, and 25 to the starter ; St. Leger Course ; 116 subs.;
six started :

Lord Exeter's Stockwell , Norman 1

Duke of Richmond's Hai'binger Flatman 2

Mrs. Bowes's Daniel O'Rourke F. Butler 3

Mr. Pedley's Trousseau Templeman 0

Mr. J. Scott's Songstress A. Day 0

Mr. Duncombe's Alfred the Great Basham 0

Betting at starting : seven to four against Stockwell, five to
two against Daniel O'Rourke, three to one against Songstress,
seven to one against Harbinger, and ten to one against Trous-
seau.

The start took place a few minutes before three. Alfred
the Great jumped off with a decided lead, followed in rotation
and at wide intervals by Harbinger and Stockwell, Scott's two
next, nearly abreast ; the pace as good as Alfred the Great
could make it. Xo change whatever took place until near the
Red House, where Alfred the Great was joined by Harbinger
and Stockwell, the latter immediately after giving way. Har-
binger then showed in front, but was headed in a few strides
by Stockwell, who went on by himself, and won in a canter by
ten lengths, Harbinger beating Daniel O'Rourke by a length.

The Municipal stakes, of 200 sovs. each, for two-year olds ;
second to save his stake ; Red House in :

Lord Derby's Umbriel Norman 1

Mr. Payne's Warwhoop Flatman 2

Mr. W. H. Brooker's Incense Templeman 3

Lord Glasgow's Doublethong J. Marson 4

124

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

Betting : live to four on Umbriel, five to two against In-
cense, and three to one against Doublethong.
Won very easily by a length.

Thursday. — The day was beautifully fine ; the course bene-
fitted by the rain, and was in capital order, and the attend-
ance good. The sport excited considerable interest. The
opening event was a handicap sweepstakes of ten sovs. each,
with twenty-four subs., for which Mr. Morris's Charity added
a fourth victory to the previous successes of the Stebbing
stable. Mr. Worthingtou's Jaquenetta and Mr. Stephen's Ace
of Trumps were second and third.

The Scarborough stakes, of twenty sovs. each, were won in
a canter by Captain Scott's Allegro.

The Eglinton stakes, of ten sovs. each, with 100 added,
presented the largest field of the day, there being forty-eight
subs. Lord Clifden's Pelion (Charlton) was the winner, Lord
Derby's Longbow (Butler) being second, and Lord Caledon's
colt by Simoom third.

The Cleveland handicap of twenty sovs. was won cleverly
by a neck by Mr. Meiklam's Evadne, beating Mr. Coombe's
Brawn and Mr. FlmtofTs The Reaper.

The sweepstakes of ten sovs. each, with fifty added, had
twenty-five subs. Was won in a canter by Mr. Merry's
Lambton.

Friday. — This was a lovely day. The stand was crowded ;
and there was a greater show of the fair sex than on any of
the previous days.

The Doncaster Cup, value 300 sovs., was a mngnificent con-
test, and was won by a neck by Mr. Stanley's Teddington, Mr.
Morris's Kingston being second, and Hungerford a bad third.

The Doncaster stakes, of ten sovs. each, had 80 subs. ; ouly
two were placed — Lord Derby's Longbow first, and Mr. Dun-
coinbe's Alfred the Great second.

The Town Plate of seventy sovs. was carried off by Mr.
Dawson's Lerrywheut." — Observer, Sept. 20th, 1852.

The Earl of Derby, who, as you will see, was one of the
stewards of this meeting, and was the successful compe-
titor for some of the stakes, is, perhaps, you know, one of

Prime Minister. The Marquis of Exeter was the fortu-
nate owner of the horse which won the St. Leger, and
is to succeed Lord Derby in the stewardship. This noble-
man is descended from William Cecil, Lord Burghloy, the

the most eminent men

BILLY BUCK'S VISTT TO ENGLAND.

125

statesman of that name so celebrated during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth. He is the head of one of the most dis-
tinguished families in England, a Knight of the Garter, a
D.C.L., and Lord Lieutenant of two counties, &c. As far
back as 1836, Southey, in his " Doctor," copies a para-
graph from a Sunday newspaper, containing the following
reference to this noble Marquis :

"Pleasures and Profits of the Turf. — We stated in a
former number, that Lord Exeter's turf profits were for the
previous season, £26,000."

I might as well copy the rest of* the paragraph, as it
serves to illustrate this subject. It is as follows : —

" But we have now before us a correct and consecutive account
of the Duke of Grafton's winning's from 1811 to 1829 inclusive,
taking in merely the value of the stakes for which the horses
ran, and which amounts to no less a sum than £99,211 3s. 4d.,
or somewhat more than £5000 per annum. This, even giving
in a good round sum for training and outlay, will leave a suffi-
ciently pleasant balance in hand ; to say nothing of the betting
book not often, we believe, light in figures. His Grace's
greatest winnings were in 1822 and in 1825 : in the former of
these years they amounted to £11,364 5s., in the latter to
£12,668 16s. 8d."

By this account you will perceive that the profits of the
first of these noble lords, earned by horse-racing in one
season, were §130,000, and that the latter for a long series
of years was in the receipt of a larger annual income in
the shape of " winnings" by horse-racing than the annual
salary of the President of the United States.

Horses belonging to the Duke of Beaufort, and other
distinguished noblemen and gentlemen, were competitors
in these races at Doncaster ; and many such persons were
present sharing the sport. One of the stakes was contri-
buted by the town of Doncaster, and we are told by the
author whom I have last quoted, that the corporation
built a " grand stand upon the course," and contributed
" annually a plate of the value of £50 to be run for."

I find that I cannot dispose of the subject within such
11*

126

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

limits as should be allotted to one letter. I shall there-
fore conclude this here, and call your attention again to
the matter in my next. Until which time I shall remain
Your obedient servant and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Major Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTEK XIII.

PASSION OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE FOR BETTING AND HORSE-
RACING — THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ADJOURNS FOR THE
DERBY DAY — RACES AT GOODWOOD AND AT EPSOM — EX-
TRAORDINARY WAGERS — MR. COBDEN PLAYS THE PART OF
WILKINS FLASHER, ESQ., AND GEN. BROTHERTON EMULATES

THAT OF MR. FRANK SIMMERY TRIAL OF A CELEBRATED

TURF-MAN FOR FORGERY — SUICIDES BY PATRONS OF THE
TURF.

London, July 14th, 1853.

Dear Major : — Besides the celebrated race-courses
which I have already mentioned, there are many others
in all parts of the country. There are races and steeple-
chases at Liverpool, steeple-chases at Oundle, races at
Newmarket, at Salisbury, at Malton, at Chester, at North-
ampton, at Stockbridgc, at Winchester, and at various
other places in England and Ireland. But none are so
fashionable, nor attract so much of admiration and inte-
rest, I believe, as the races at Goodwood, and Epsom. The
Derby stakes, of which you have often heard, are run for
on the latter course ; and the House of Commons itself
suspends business and adjourns for the Derby day, as you
will see from the following which I clipped from the
Observer a few weeks since :

"Derby Day. — Lord J. Russell gave notice that on Monday
next he should move to adjourn the house over Tuesday next,
as Tuesday was the Queen's birthday ; and, as there was but
one order for Wednesday, he should move the further adjourn-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

127

ment until Thursday, as Wednesday will be the Derby day
(cheers)."— Observer, May 23, 1853.

I enclose you extracts from the Observer, in which you
will find parts of an account of these races at Goodwood,
and Epsom. If you find them too much for your patience,
you have my permission to skip them. But they, or others
like them, are necessary to a comprehension of the subject,
as I have brought it to your attention :

"GOODWOOD RACES.

Stewards : The Earl of Zetland, and the Hon. H. F. Lawley.
Judge : Mr. Clark. Clerk of the Course and Starter : Mr.
Hibburd.

This meeting — the greatest of our racing festivals — opened
on Tuesday last with brilliant success. Notwithstanding that
the weather had borne a rather threatening appearance, all the
trains from London Bridge on that day left the station with
monster freights ; and Brighton, Worthing, Bognor, Chiches-
ter, and Southsea received an extraordinary influx of visitors.

Tuesday, July 27. — In the morning there were some heavy
showers, but suddenly the wind veered to the east, the sun shone
forth brilliantly, and all was joyous anticipation. On the Grand
Stand the number of fashionable visitors was greater than is
remembered to have ever been seen before on a first day. There
was a large "and distinguished party from Goodwood House
(the Duke of Richmond's seat), which included Duke Bernard
of Saxe Weimar, H. R. H. the Duke of Cambridge, Prince
George of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, Prince and Princess Edward
of Saxe Weimar, the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Duke and
Duchess of Bedford, Marquis of Waterford and Drogheda,
Earl Derby, and a long list of aristocratic noblemen and gen-
tlemen. The day's proceedings passed off with the greatest
quietness and order. Owing to the high class of the company,
the duties of the police were comparatively easy, and a lucky
descent made by the London detectives upon a body of no less
than fourteen well-known 'professionals' among the light-
fingered gentry — all of whom were seized at the same time, and
committed by Mr. Henry, the magistrate, for three months to
the House of Correction — no doubt tended greatly to lessen
the fatigues of the police during the remainder of the meeting.
The usual official return of the sport will be found below.

The first race on the card was the Craven Stakes (Handi-

128

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

cap) of 5 sovs. each, with 50 added, a mile and a quarter, 13
subscribers — a fine race from the distance home, was won by
Mr. Powney's Lamartine (A. Day) beating Maria by a head,
Lithograph third, and six not placed. Sweepstakes of 300
sovs. for four year olds, the second to save his stake, 3 miles
and 5 furlongs, 11 subs., by Mr. Nicholl's Newminster (Tem-
pleman) beating Harpsichord easily by two lengths, Phlegethon
third, and Midas. Fifty Pounds Plate, added to a Sweepstakes
of 5 sovs. each, the winner to be sold for 100 sovs., with allow-
ances if to be sold for less, T. Y. C, 13 subs., by Mr. Y. King's
Gold Dust (Bundy), beating in a canter by four lengths Vivan-
diere, who beat Mustang by half a length. The Levant Stakes
of 50 sovs. each for two year olds, the second to save his stake,
half a mile, by Mr. Osbaldeston's Sister to Mountain Deer
(Hiett) beating in a canter Lascelles, William Rufus third, and
five others. The Gratwicke Stakes of 100 sovs. each, h-ft.,for
three year olds, the second to receive 200, and the third to save
his stake, one mile and a half, by Earl Derby's Longbow (F.
Butler) beating Father Thames by a head, Nabob, a bad third,
and Houlakin, King Pepin, Claverhouse, and Red Hind. The
Ham Stakes of 100 sovs. each, h-ft., for two year olds, the se-
cond to receive 200, T. Y. C, by Duke of Richmond's Refrac-
tion colt (Templeman), after a very close race with Defiance,
winning by a head, Phrygia, Belgravia, and Kitty of Coleraine
filly close up. Sweepstakes of 50 sovs. each, for three year
olds, one mile and a half, by Lord Exeter's Stockwell (Norman)
beating Harbinger by a length and a half.

The Cup Day — Thursday. —The extreme fineness of the
weather, the number and rank of the visitors, and the excel-
lence of the racing, combined to render this one of the most
successful cup days ever witnessed. The racing commenced
with —

The Sussex Stakes of 25 sovs. each for two year olds, T. Y.C.,
which was won by Mr. II. Drewe's Defiance (Rogers) beating
Belle Sauvage filly (Flatman) in a canter by five lengths. The
First Fear of the Bentinck Memorial Stakes, for two year old,
T. Y. C, by Duke of Richmond's Refraction colt beating Sit-
tingbourne by half a length, Auld Acquaintance third, and Bel-
gravia, William Rufus, and Talfourd. The Racing Stakes of
50 sovs. each, for three year olds, one mile, by Lord Exeter's
Stockwell (Norman), (the favorite at 5 to 4), beating" in a
canter by a length Maidstone, Father Thames, and Lucio. A
Sweepstakes of 200*sovs. each, for two year olds, T. Y. C. Mr.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 129

Grevillc's Exhibition and Mr. W. IT. Brook's Incense divided
the stakes, Incense walking over The Molecombe Stakes of
50 sovs. each, for two year olds, by Mr. Howard's Elmsthorpe
(A. Day), beating Estrella in a canter by two lengths, and
Margaret of Anjou.

The Goodwood Cup, value 300 sovs., the rest in specie sub-
scriptions of 20 sovs. each, with 100 added ; the second horse
to receive 100 sovs. out of the stakes, the third 30 ; two miles
and a half.

Mr. Morris's Kingston, 3 yrs., 7st. 41b. (carried 7st. Gib.) Flatman 1

Mr. Howard's Little Harry, 3 yrs., 6st. 131b Cowley 2

Mr. J. M. Stanley's Teddington, 4 yrs., 9st. 31b F. Butler 3

Mr. Merry's Hobbie Noble, 3 yrs., 7st. 41b. Knott 4

The following' also started, but were not placed : Newniin-
ster, Frantic, Stilton, Buckhound, Her vine, and Allegro.

Betting : 7. to 4 against Stilton, 5 to 1 against Little Harry,
6 to 1 against Kingston, 6 to 1 against Hobbie Noble, 10 to 1
against Teddington, 12 to 1 against ]STewminster, and 20 to 1
each against any other. Hobbie Noble took the lead till the
turn out of the course, when Buckthorn went three or four
lengths in advance of Hobbie Noble, the latter being twice as
many before Allegro, who was in the van of the ruck. Buck-
thorn carried the running to the half-mile post, and there gave
way, and Hobbie Noble again obtained the lead, which he held
to the distance, where he was passed by Little Harry, leading,
Kingston, and Teddington. A fine race home with this trio
ended in favor of Kingston by half a length, Little Harry beat-
ing Teddington by three parts of a length ; Hobbie Noble a
bad fourth, Frantic fifth, and the others beaten off.

This race was followed by the Second Year of the Third
Bentinck Memorial Stakes for three year olds, Gratwicke
Stakes Course, won by Duke of Richmond's Harbinger (Flat-
man), beating easily by a length the Nabob and Longbow.
Longbow went on the wrong side of the post at starting.

The Duke of Richmond's Plate of 100 sovereigns. New
Mile :—

Mr. Jacques's Vivandiere, 4 yrs., 6st. 101b Weils 1

Mr. E. Parr's Sanita, 3 yrs., 6st. 71b Hiett 2

Mr. W. Hale's Merry Peal, 4 yrs., 7st. 41b T. Smith 3

The following also started, but were not placed : — Land-
grave, Radulphus, Catalpa, Newport, Miss Hayes, Timid
Fawn, No- Chance, Alfred the Great, The Bishop, Sagacity,

130

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

by Venison out of Passion, ch. c. by Birdcatcher out of He-
cate, Plumstead, and Knavery.

Betting : 6 to 1 each against Alfred the Great, Catalpa,
Radulphus, and Plumstead, 9 to 1 against Timid Fawn, and
10 to 1 each against Sanita and Miss Haves. Won by ahead,
a length and a half between the second and third, and Timid
Fawn a bad fourth.

The Anglesey Plate of 50 sovs., gentlemen riders, Craven
Course ; won by Capt. Lane's Agis, aged, list. 121b. (owner),
beating Roller, Caloric, St. Patrick, and John of Berwick.

Friday. — The 50th anniversary of this unrivalled meeting
was brought to a conclusion with one of the best day's sports
ever remembered. For the various races to-day, 66 horses
started, and the amount of the prizes realized £2535. The
gross total for the week is as follows : — Number of starters,
256 ; value of the stakes, £16,135. Lord Bibblesdale and the
Hon. F. Lawley have accepted the stewardship for 1853.

After the races were over, a great number of betting offices
in London closed their establishments. It is said that twenty
of the owrners have shut up shop. Up to ten or eleven o'clock
on Wednesday night, many hundreds were received to back
different horses for the cup, one man in the neighborhood of
the British Museum having received nearly £500, after the re-
sult of the stakes was published, with which sum, as well as the
immense amount which must have been deposited on other
events, he has decamped. It is reported that the sum wanted
from another party of Camden Town is over £80,000, one in-
dividual alone losing £20,000." — Observer, August 2d, 1852.

"EPSOM RACES.

This annual sporting festival commenced on Tuesday, under
the most propitious influences ; bright skies and pleasant
breezes compensating in some degree for the dreary weather
which attended the early meetings of the season. The 'open-
ing day,' never attractive to the masses, did not draw more
than an average attendance to the Downs — the majority being,
as usual, composed of that class who have a direct interest in
the sporting business of the day.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

131

THE DERBY DAY.

Wednesday, May 25. — The attraction of the Derby has this
year surpassed all precedent. Never, perhaps, was so vast
a multitude collected upon any similar occasion on the Downs
as on Wednesday last. From an early hour in the morning
the trains continued to arrive in quick succession, each adding
its numbers to the crowds that poured into the town and
blocked up the streets.

Besides the immense number of visitors who preferred the
ready and rapid mode of transit by the rail, hundreds of per-
sons, tempted by the extraordinary fineness of the weather,
came by the road, which was thronged with vehicles of every
grade and fashion — from the costermonger's donkey-cart to
the aristocratie barouche or four-in-hand — recalling the almost
forgotten glories of the highway on the Derby day. The
brilliancy of the sun produced, however, its invariable conse-
quence, in the clouds of dust with which the outsiders were
completely enveloped.

Praise is due to the officials at the London Bridge Sta-
tion for the arrangements by which the public were admit-
ted to the trains without the slightest difficulty or confusion,
and for the order and regularity with which the transit of so
vast an assemblage was effected to and from Epsom.

The first race (the Carew stakes) being over, the excitement
commenced in earnest, as the time for deciding the great event
of the day approached. At length, after an anxious interval,
the telegraph boards in the enclosure announced that twenty-
eight of the thirty-two horses named on the card were pre-
pared to compete for what Mr. Disraeli has called 'the blue
riband of the turf.' The horses soon afterwards cantered up
the course from the paddock, which, for the accommodation
of owners and trainers of horses, was again thrown open by
Mr. Arthur Heathcote. After due time had been allowed for
the inspection of the horses, Air. Hibburd, the starter, took
charge of the troupe, and conducted them to the starting-post,
and at the first signal got them away in beautiful order. At
this moment it would be difficult to imagine a more animated
and exciting scene than the course presented. The Grand
Stand was resplendent with summer fashions, and the private
stands were crowded with the members and friends of the
stewards and gentlemen of the Jocky Clnb — in short, a more
brilliant meeting, both as regards the number of visitors and
the fineness of the weather, has never been seen on Epsom
Downs.

132

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR;

It is some years since the Derby was invested with so much
mystery, interest, and importance — a circumstance chiefly attri-
butable to the Cineas and Honeywood movements. They, how-
ever, who, with an unprejudiced regard, scrutinized West Aus-
tralian and Sittingbourne when they pulled up after the race
for the Two Thousand, had never any doubt of their being
first and second for the Derby. Through good report and
evil report, West Australian firmly maintained the lead in the
ring, and fully did he justify the confidence of his backers. It
doubtless will be well remembered that Mr. Bowes achieved a
similar triumph last year with Daniel O'Rourke ; in 1835 he
won the Derby with Mundig, and in 1843 with Cotherstone.

The sport came off as follows :

The Derby stakes, of fifty sovs. each, h. ft. for three-year
olds ; colts 8st. Tib., fillies 8st. 21b.; the second to receive 100
sovs. out of the stakes ; New Course (one mile and a half) ;
195 subs.:

Mr. Bowes's West Australian, by Melbourne F. Butler 1

Duke of Bedford's Sittingbourne, by Chatham S. Rogers 2

Mr. Powney's Ciueas, by Touchstone or Epirus Buuiby 3

Mr. Howard's Rataplan, by The Baron 4

The following also ran : — Baron Rothschild's Orestes, Lord
Londesborough,s Mayor of Hull, Count Batthvanv's Stone
Plover, Mr. E. R. Clark's Mr. Sykes, Mr. Mare's" Pharold,
Lord Exeter's Filbert, Mr. Perren's Ionic, Lord Derby's Um-
briel, Duke of Richmond's Pharos, Captain Lane's Ninnyham-
mer, Lord Clifden's Cheddar, Lord Calcdon's Prince Leopold,
Mr. B Way's Brocket, Mr. Knowles's Talfourd, Mr. J. M.
Stanley's Orinoco, Mr. Howard's Lascellcs, Mr. Oliver's Ethel-
bert, Mr. Surteeson's Honeywood, Mr. Rowan's Finn ma Coul,
Mr. J. Aylingcn's Rattle, Mr. Thompson's Coomberland Stathes-
mou, Lord Glasgow's Barbatus, Lord Kglinton's Vander-
decken, Mr. Wilkins's Peggy.

An excellent start, all getting off in a cluster except Coom-
berland Stathesmon, who was some lengths behind. Cheddar
and Cineas started in front, but they had scarcely proceeded
half-way up the hill when Umbriel took up the running, witli
Cheddar, Cineas, Orestes, Ethelbert, Ninnyhammer, and Rattle
well laid up; and directly in their wake were Pharos, Honey-
wood, and Filbert ; West Australian, and Sittingbourne in
close attendance upon him, being the next two. No material

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

133

change occurred until they arrived at the turn into the straight,
when Umbriel began to drop off; Rattle immediately went on
with the lead, but at the road was passed by Cineas, and at
the same time West Australian, with Sittingbourne at his
quarters, Was seen to draw forward. At the distance, these
two singled themselves out, and a very exciting race home
ended in favor of West Australian by a neck. Rataplan, who
left the ruck in the last quarter of a mile, and gradually im-
proved his position, finished about half a length behind the
third. Honeywood and Rattle were the next two. Barbatus
pulled up lame. Run in 2min. 55^ sec. Amount of the
stakes, 5425 sovs. Jerry Kent was scratched at 10*30 A. M.
The Epsom Town Plate of 55 sovs. (handicap) for all ages ;

one mile :

Mr. Drinkald's Snarry, by Sleight of Hand Aldcroft 1

Mr. Reeves's Abdallah Bartholomew 2

Mr. Magenis's Sandhurst Oliver 3

The betting opened at six to four against Telescope, but
closed at two to one against him ; two to one against Snarry.
A fine race with Snarry, Abdallah, and Sandhurst. Won by
a neck, the second beating the third by three-quarters of a
length ; Telescope a bad fourth.

The Great Exhibition Plate of 100 sovs. (handicap) for all
ages ; one mile and a quarter :

Mr. Magenis's Clair de Lune, by Lanercost Oliver 1

Mr. Wigjian's Forrester (h. b.) Wells 2

Mr. Y. King's Narcissus Charlton 3

Betting : Six to four against Narcissus, three to one against
Clair de Lune, five to one against Forester, six to one against
Puritan. Won cleverly by a length, a neck only between
second and third. Sweetheart and Iresine were fourth and
fifth.

THE OAKS DAY.

Friday, May 21th. — The anticipations of a numerous and
fashionable attendance for the Oaks were fulfilled by the re-
sult ; for, although the Downs were not encumbered with an
enormous mass of human beings, as on Wednesday, the com-
pany was far more select. The large proportion of private
carriages with fashionable parties on the hill, and the number
of ladies on the grand stand, rendered this a most successful
termination of the meeting. The private stand and the en-
12

134 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

closure exhibited the usual array of leaders of the turf and
business men. The morning, though fine, was exceedingly
close and sultry, and certain indications of an approaching
thunderstorm were observed. No chauge, however, took
place in the weather until after the Oaks race, when the rain
began suddenly to descend, accompanied by thunder and
lightning ; and so violent was the storm, that it caused a
general rush of the company to every available place of shelter.
The grand stand and all the booths on the course were instan-
taneously filled to suffocation ; but numbers, unable to get
under cover, were thoroughly drenched in a very few minutes.
For nearly an hour the rain fell incessantly, and the last two
races were run in a perfect deluge.

The following are the details of the day's sport :
The Members' Plate of fifty sovs.; the winner to be sold for
200 sovs. if demanded ; oue mile and a quarter.

Lord J. Scott's Young England

Mr. J. Dawson's Honesty

Mr. Cooper's Desdemona

Mr. Vickers's Psaltery

.Whiteliouse 1

Barker 2

Wells 3

. ..Castleman 4

Betting : Even on Desdemona, five to two against Young
England, nine to two against Honesty, and five to one against
Psaltery. Honesty made play, and, after the first half-mile,
was joined by Young England, who waited to the distance,
when he went in advance, and finally won very easily by a
length and a half ; a good race for second place Honesty,
beating Desdemona by a head, and a neck only between third
and fourth. The winner was claimed." — Obsei^ver, May 30///,
1853.

In what I have sent, you have seen enough, I am sure,
to convince you that this practise is not only intensely
fascinating to the English people, but that it may be
said to constitute a prominent feature in their social sys-
tem. It obviously affords a common ground of interest,
on which the Sovereign and the Chartist, the Peer and
the Eadical, do often meet and sympathize. Here,
whilst their inmates are absorbed in the same engross-
ing speculation, the donkey-cart jostles the duchess'
chariot. And here the cripple on crutches looks up into
the face of the splendid horseman for a factor of thought,
which may enable him also to solve that problem of

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

135

chances upon which they each propose to stake, or have
staked, their money, and on which the brains of each are
at work. Is it any wonder that the passion of betting,
and its results, are so all-pervading ?

What are some of those results ? Southey, in the same
work to which I have referred, tells us that "horse-races
excite evil desires, call forth evil passions, encourage evil
propensities, lead the innocent into temptation, and give
opportunities to the wicked. And the good which arises
from such amusements, either as mere amusement (which
is, in itself, unequivocally a good, when altogether inno-
cent), or by circulating money in the neighborhood, or
by tending to keep up an excellent breed of horses, for
purposes of direct utility, these consequences are dust in
the balance, when compared with the guilt and misery
that arise from gambling." It is easy to see how such a
practice, thus pervading all ranks of society, and receiving
the sanction and encouragement of — nay, fostered and
sustained by — the great and powerful of the land, will
nurture, as one of the " evil propensities " above referred
to, a fondness for betting, or gambling in chances gene-
rally, among all classes of people. That ingenious and
gifted author, Mr. Charles Dickens, saw it when he
sketched the following scene :

" 1 1 see there's a notice up this morning about Boffer,'
observed Mr. Simmery; 'poor devil, he's expelled the
house.'

' I'll bet you ten guineas to five he cuts his throat/ said
Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.

'Done,' replied Mr. Simmery.

'Stop; I bar,' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, thought-
fully. ' Perhaps he may hang himself.'

'Very good,' said Mr. Simmery, pulling out the gold
pencil-case again. ' I've no objection to take you that
way — say makes way with himself.'

' Kills himself, in fact,' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.

'Just so,' said Mr. Simmery, putting it down. ' Flasher,
ten guineas to five Boffer kills himself — within what time
shall we say ?'

'A fortnight,' suggested Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.

136

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

' Confound it, no/ rejoined Mr. Simmery, stopping for
an instant to smash a fly with a ruler ; ' say a week.'

'Split the difference/ said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire;
'make it ten days.'

' Well, ten days,' rejoined Mr. Simmery.

So it was entered down in the little books, that Boffer
was to kill himself within ten days, or Wilkins Flasher,
Esquire, was to hand over to Frank Simmery, Esquire,
the sum of ten guineas; and that if Boffer did kill him-
self within that time, Frank Simmery, Esquire, would pay
to Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, five guineas instead.

' I'm very sorry he has failed,' said Wilkins Flasher,
Esquire. ' Capital dinners he gave.'

' Fine port he had, too,' remarked Mr. Simmery. ' We
are going to send our butler to the sale to-morrow, to
pick up some of that sixty-four.'

'The devil you are!' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.
' My man is going, too. Five guineas my man outbids
your man.'

< Done.'

Another entry was made in the little books," etc.

That persons of some distinction in this country might
have sat for the original of this picture, you will see from
the following extract :

" EXTRAORDINARY WAGERS.

Mr. Cobden has not hitherto been ranked amongst the class
called 'sporting men,' and yet he has made a 'sporting bet.'
We doubt if he would find a recognition amongst the ' swells'
of the Turf Club, or be able to establish a locus standi with
the 'legs' of Tattersall's. And yet he has laid a wager that
tops some of those fast-uns. In a speech to the members of
the Peace Society at Manchester, the Honorable member for
the West Riding talked of any probable invasion of England
as a moral impossibility : it was all Lombard street to a China
orange, in sporting parlance. He then and there offered to
forfeit £10,000 down — to the Editor of the Manchester Guar-
dian, in the event of an invasion of Great Britain and Ireland
— we hope Ireland is included this time — on condition that
the editor aforesaid would pay in the meanwhile Is. a week,
or £2 12s. a year to the Manchester Infirmary. This was

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

137

certainly long odds, as they say in the Ring. Still there were
no ' takers.' The editor was not tempted by the 1 capital prize'
of £10,000 to take a ticket in this 'peaceable' lottery, and for
a while there was to be found no one courageous — or humane
— enough to 'book' the proposed venture. At length a man-
of-war — a regular believer in 1 guns and drums and wounds' —
heaven save the mark ! — comes boldly forward, and declares
his resolution to pay the £2 12s. a year to the Manchester
Infirmary. Lieut. Gen. Brotherton is the happy man, that
looks upon himself as the destined lucky recipient of the ' great
national sweep' of full £10,000 — no bad prize money for the
commencement of a campaign. In reply to the challenge of
the soldier, Mr. Cobden names his solicitor, and desires that
the bond should be promptly prepared. The full ' pound of
flesh' — the warrant and the forfeiture of the bond — is to be
nominated after the true and regular forms of law. The court
awards it, and the law approves it,

"We have in our minds a great many such 'bubble bets,' that
have come to nothing, and all without the aid of dramatic
incident or effect. Instances are numerous enough of such
extravagant and baseless wagers, full of sound and fury, sig-
nifying nothing. There is one at hand, so apt and appropri-
ate, that we shall quote it here entire — the more so, as it is
not entirely foreign from the question at issue, and that it re-
produces, in the language of the learned Chief Justice Lord
Ellenborough, who was moved for a new trial, the somewhat
apposite statement that in those days French invasions were
annually threatened, and were deprecated weekly in every
church.

The following is au accurate abstract of the case, which
will not be read without interest in the present day. The time
is 1812, and the scene the York Assizes, and the Court of
King's Bench, at Westminster. Before proceeding any fur-
ther, however, it is but fair to inform the reader that General
Brotherton has declined to 'take the odds,' as will be seen by
his last letter, also subjoined ; and that, therefore, the affair,
as regards the parties, is virtually at an end. The moral, of
the case, however, remains the same, and is held fully to bear
out these observations.

1 Case on a Bet — Gilbert v. Sykes. — At the York Assizes in
March, a trial came on in which the Rev. B. Gilbert was plain-
12*

138

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

tiff, and Sir Mark M. Sykes, Bart., defendant. It appeared
that the baronet, at his own table, in a dinner party, during a
conversation respecting the hazard to which the life of Bona-
parte was exposed, had offered, upon the receipt of 100 gui-
neas, to pay a guinea a day as long as he should remain alive.
Mr. Gilbert suddenly took up the offer ; but, finding that the
sense of the company was against making a serious matter of
a bet proposed at a moment of conviviality, he said, 1 If you
will submit, Sir Mark, to ask it as a favor, you may be off.'
This the baronet refused to do ; the 100 guineas were sent by
Mr. G., of which Sir M. acknowledged the receipt, and he had
continued paying the guinea a day for nearly three years. At
length he declined further payment, and this action was for the
recovery of the sum still due upon the contract.

Mr. Topping, for the defendant, contended, first, that there
was no serious intention of betting upon the part of Sir 31.
Sykes, but that he was surprised by the hasty acceptance of
the offer of the clergyman. He then, on the supposition that
it was regarded as a real bet, advanced an argument that Mr.
Gilbert, having thus a beneficial interest in the life of Bona-
parte, might be induced, in case of his invading this island, to
use means for protecting from personal danger an inveterate
enemy of his country.

The judge, after stating the evidence to the jury, with his
observations, left them to decide the fact whether there was an
intention of betting on the part of Sir M. Sykes, and reserv-
ing the point of law. The jury returned a verdict for the de-
fendant.

On April the 16th, the case was brought before the King's
Bench, where Mr. Park mov" ed for a rule to show cause why
the verdict for the defendant should not be set aside, and a
new trial granted — the verdict having been found against all
the evidence produced. He recapitulated the circumstances
of the transaction, and said that Baron Thompson, in his
charge to the jury, had treated the contract rather a3 for an
annuity than a wager ; and, however hastily it had been
adopted by the plaintiff, put it to them whether it had not
been persisted in by the defendant. It was no wager that
Bonaparte would come to his end by violent means.

Lord Ellinborough, in granting the rule, said that he was
very sorry this question should come to be argued in a court
of law ; but unless there was, in the nature of the bet, any-
thing of an immoral or impolitic tendency, it was a legal con-
tract, and must be supported. He would not declare what

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

139

relief fnight be obtained elsewhere, under all the circum-
stances ; but, as the defendant went on paying for three years,
the fact of the contract seemed to be clearly established, and
the jury had certainly gone beyond their province in finding
for the defendant.

The case was again brought under consideration before the
Court of King's Bench, on June 11 and 15. After the coun-
sel had held their argument respecting the nature of the con-
tract, and the interest of the parties in the event which was its
subject, Lord Ellinborough said, that although the Court
might differ as to the grounds of their opinion, they all con-
curred that no new trial ought to be granted in this case. The
objection to this wager was its tendency to produce public
mischief. At a time when the enemy's threats of invasion
were annual, and deprecated weekly in every church, could it
be said that, in the event of Bonaparte's landing, the interest
of 365 guineas per annum to preserve his life was too remote ?
Besides, one great object of the nation ought to be to obviate
the suspicion of attempting the assassination of Bonaparte,
with which it had (he hoped unjustly) been charged ; and to
prevent a war of assassination, with which any attempt of that
kind would not fail to be revenged. He could not say that the
verdict for the defendant was proper on the ground that the
bet was not deliberately entered into ; but, looking into all the
circumstances of the conversation upon which this contract
was founded, and the contract itself, he thought the rule for a
new trial ought to be discharged.

The other three judges delivered a similar opinion, and the
rule was accordingly discharged." — Observer, February 1th,
1853.

The " evil propensities " which, this practice encourages
are thus partially indicated. In the following report you
have further evidence of the same sort, and of "the op-
portunities " which it affords " to the wicked/' as well as
of " the guilt and misery " which arise from such gambling.

"CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, OCT. 29.

Before Mr. Justice Cresswell.

Forgery. — Ignatius Francis Coyle, who has been long con-
nected with the turf, and was mixed up with the celebrated
' Running Rein ' case, surrendered to take his trial on a charge
of feloniously uttering a forged promissory note for £1150,

140

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

with intent to defraud Henry Viscount Clifden ; another count
charged an intent to defraud Alexander M'Eachey Alleyne.

Yiscount Clifden deposed that the promissory note now pro-
duced for £1150 was not written or authorized by him to be
written. He never was under any obligation to the prisoner.

Cross-examined : The signature is not like witness' hand-
writing. Witness knew the prisoner as a betting man. He
betted with him, and had won and lost.

Captain Alexander M'Eachey Alleyne (the prosecutor) de-
posed that he was formerly in the 89th regiment. He is now
26 years of age. After returning from Canada, in 1846, he for
the first time had bets on the turf, on race-horses. In 1849 he
knew the prisoner, and betted with him. In June, 1849, he
lent the prisoner about £200, and from that time to June, 1850,
he lent him other sums, in all about £2000. In January, 1850,
he owed him £1700 for money advanced, &c, and he (prisoner)
came to witness' lodgings on the subject of the debt, and said
he had Lord Clifden's note for £1150, which was a perfectly
good security. The prisoner handed witness the note, and
witness gave him a check for £350. He afterwards lent the
prisoner £150. At the Derby, in 1850, witness had transac-
tions jointly with the prisoner, and lost between £8,000 and
£10,000, partly on the prisoner's account, and partly on his
own. The prisoner's share of the loss was nearly £3000, but
witness charged him only £2300, and actually paid that sum
for him. After the race, he applied to the prisoner, who re-
quested witness to meet him at Furnival's Inn, and witness,
with his brother (Captain Holder Alleyne), went to Wood's
Hotel, Furnival's Inn, where he saw the prisoner and his friend,
Mr. Charles Coghlan. The prisoner said something about his
time being come, and was leaving the room in despair, when
Captain Holder Alleyne followed, and they both returned to-
gether. The prisoner then said to witness that he had forged
Lord Clifden's name on the note, in order to raise money to
send to his brother in Australia ; that if witness would not
prosecute, he would do all in his power to repay him ; that he
was wholly mined, but that if let off, he would work for witness
all his life, and would never forget his kindness. He threat-
ened to throw himself from the monument, and all sorts of
things, and at last prosecutor consented to take his promissory
note, payable on demand, for £4300, and a memorandum, pro-
duced, stating that this promissory note was for cash advanced
and other liabilities incurred, including Lord Clifden's note,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

141

and that said note was not genuine. The note was never pre-
sented to Lord Clifdcn for payment. In January, 1851, wit-
ness instituted proceedings at the police court against the pri-
soner, but the proceedings were withdrawn, and in July last
the present indictment was preferred.

Cross-examined by Mr. James, Q. C. : Witness had retired
from the army. He became acquainted with the prisoner in
1817. They were on intimate terms. He never lodged with
him. He had dined with him after the bill was said to be a
forgery. Witness was not a defaulter, at the Derby in 1850.
The proceedings at the police office were withdrawn on Coyle's
promising to pay the money. Mr. Clarksou was witness'
counsel at the police office. He did not recollect hearing Mr.
Clarkson say that the charge was withdrawn because it was
believed that prisoner had uttered the forgery without a guilty
knowledge. After that, witness went before the grand jury.
During the interval a malicious prosecution had been got up
against prosecutor, in which prisoner was a witness. Witness
and his brother, Captain Holder Alleyne, were indicted for de-
frauding Mr. Kennedy of a large sum of money. The case was
removed, at witness' instance, to the Court of Queen's Bench.
Witness was in America at the time the alleged ofience occurred.
He never received £2700 of the money of Kennedy. His bro-
ther did win £7000 of Kennedy on a bet, and that was the
subject of the indictment against witness and his brother. Wit-
ness never received a shilling of it. His brother made him a
jjreseut of £500, and lent him another £500 shortly after win-
ning the bet, but this was no part of the money won. Mr.
Kennedy was a lieutenant in witness' regiment. Witness'
brother had placed £1600 to witness' account, but it was no
part of the proceeds of the bet He does not believe it came
from that money, but he does not know from what source it
did come. His brother promised to give him money when he
won the match. He had a celebrated trotting mare which he
matched with Kennedy to do a certain number of miles in an
hour, and in ten days after the match came off, witness received
the money. This was in January, 1847. Kennedy left the
regiment and went to India. Kennedy took proceedings in
Chancery, but withdrew them and instituted the malicious pro-
secution. Witness left the turf, he is happy to say, in 1850.
He never plays. [A letter was here shown to witness.] That
letter is in my handwriting.

Mr. James : I see that in that letter reference is made to
something about 'borrowing a house to do a plant,' and there

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

is also something about some 'nice young fledglings.' Can
you tell us the meaning of those expressions ?

Witness : I don't know the meaning of them. This letter
was sent to a person who was my intimate friend. I don't
know the meaning of 'borrowing a house to do a plant.' I
suppose it means making bets, or that sort of thing.

Mr. James : Is it play ?

Witness : No, I never play.

Mr. James : What is the meaning of a 'fledging,' upon the
turf? [Laughter.]

Witness : I suppose it means a man who bets. I can give
no other explanation.

Mr. James : Upon your oath, do not the expressions in the
letter mean to get inexperienced persons in some place for the
purpose of robbing them ?

Witness : No. A man may go to a place, and people may
bet with Jiim.

Mr. James : Do you know a person named Flower ?
Witness : I have seen him, but I don't know him. I don't
recollect hearing that he was a man of considerable wealth.
Mr. James : Was he a ' fledgling V [A laugh.]
Witness : I should say he was.
Mr. James : Did he ' get it over the head and ears V
Witness : I should say he did.

Mr. James : Pray what means ' getting it over the head
and ears V

Witness : It means what I had at the Derby in 1850 [a
laugh]. I heard that Kennedy lost about .£8000 by betting
[a laugh]. Witness proceeded : After 1850 witness repeatedly
betted with the prisoner. Witness was not excluded from the
betting ring at Newmarket. In autumn, 1850, prisoner made
a bet for witness in Cambridgeshire, and witness asked him to
pay Mr. Lutt £100 out of the money he owed. Witness dined
with prisoner during the present year, but he only saw him on
the subject of his debt. Witness paid his losses on the Derby
with his own money. He did not say in a letter, ' I want
money badly, and I want some nice fledglings to do a plant.'

Re-examined : My mother is a lady of fortune, and she has
assisted me. I have sold some property which realized £5000
or £6000. The transactions with Captain Kennedy took place
in 1847, and I never heard of any criminal proceedings until
the prisoner was charged with this ofl'ence. I do not know
how the prisoner became acquainted with the affair of Mr. Ken-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

143

nedy. There was no inquiry before a magistrate, but they went
behind my back and preferred a bill. The expressions relating
to ' doing a plant' and ' fledglings' were not my own expres-
sions, but were reported by me as a message from another
person.

Captain Holder Alleyne, elder brother of the prosecutor, de-
posed to the admission by the prisoner, at FurnivaFs Inn, of the
forgery of Lord Clifden's name. Cross-examined : He does
not consider himself a defaulter. He owed £12,000 after the
Derby, in 1850. He does not know that he was posted as a
defaulter on the settling day. He had won about .£'3000. He
left the army solely because he wished to leave it. In Canada
he formed an acquaintance, he was sorry to say, with Mr. Ken-
nedy. Witness added : I won 7000 guineas of him, which he
paid me. He was not an old man. I don't know that he was
at that time not more than 19 years of age. The money was
won upon a trotting mare, called in America 'Fanny Jenks.'
I altered her name to ' Pigeon' [a laugh]. She was a very
good Pigeon [renewed laughter]. The terms of the match
were — £100 that she did not trot 12 miles in the hour, £200
she did not do 14, £400 she did not do 15, £800 she did not
do 16, and the amount was increased to £3200 that she did not
trot 18 miles within the hour ; and there was also a bet of a
thousand guineas that she did not do 15 miles in the hour.
The mare had trotted several matches in America, and was
well known by the name of 'Fanny Jenks.' Mr. Kennedy
might have heard of her as being a fast trotter in America,
but I can't tell whether he knew it was the same mare I brought
to England. I did not tell Mr. Kennedy that the mare was
fit to trot for a man's life at a time when she was lame. I am
not aware that Mr. Kennedy left England entirely ruined by
his losses. I first heard of an indictment being preferred against
me about two years ago. There was an arrangement that the
trial should take place, but my solicitor withdrew the record.
I believe that my brother, who is a clergyman, also occasionally
made bets on the turf through my brother Alexander. I at
present stand in the position of a gentleman at large. [A
laugh.]

Re-examined : I have had the good sense to quit the turf
altogether.

Mr. Humfrey : What occupation do you follow now ?

Witness : A married man [much laughter]. My brother
has not betted since he has been ordained as a clergyman. The
bets were made for him while he was at college.

144

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Mr. James then addressedlhe court on behalf of the pri-
soner, in an eloquent speech, and said that the offence charged
occurred two years ago, and that the subsequent conduct of
the prosecutor showed that he did not believe the prisoner to
have had a guilty knowledge of the forgery. Counsel then
commented upon the betting transactions of Mr. Alleyne, and
said that this was a dispute between betting men, which ought
rather to have been settled at Tattersall's than in a court of
justice. This prosecution was instituted in order to prevent
the prisoner from giving evidence in Kennedy's case.

The learned judge then summed up, and said that if the
charge of forgery was true, the jury had nothing to do with
the motives of the prosecutor in preferring it.

The jury, after a brief deliberation, returned a verdict of
guilty. Sentence was deferred." — Observer, J\rov. 3d, 1851.

I can afford room for two more cases only, which still
more strikingly illustrate "the guilt and misery" that
arise from this fashionable and popular English practice
and pastime.

" SUICIDES.

An inquest was held by Mr. W. Payne, at the Barley Mow,
Upper Thames street, on the body of William Mimmack. aged
59, who committed suicide on the 6th inst. About 7 o'clock
in the evening of Friday week, deceased went into a coffee-
house in Upper Thames street, and having engaged a bed for
the night, about a quarter past seven he was, at his request,
shown to his room, and nothing more was heard of him until
ten o'clock on Saturday morning, when he was found hanging
by a rope round his neck tied to the post of the bedstead. He
was lying flat on the ground, from which his head was not sus-
pended more than from seven to eight inches. A doctor was
sent for, who, on his arrival, declared that life was extinct,
and had been so for some time. During his absence from
home his family received from him a letter posted in Knight
llyder street, conveying his intention to commit suicide. A
book was found in his pocket in which were made the follow-
ing entries : — ' Thames street, six o'clock — 1 now fly in the
face of my friend and Maker. Horse-racing has killed me.
It would be a good thing if it was made felony to bet on any
of them.' Another was dated March 5, 1852. — 'Another
miserable day, and yours has been the same. God's will be

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

145

done. I am a poor wretch. This punishment I deserve.' The
last was a scrap of paper, on which was written the following :
' My poor brothers appear so happy, and I am so miserable
that I must join them. The little money is left in my bureau
at home, if I have any. The Lord have mercy on me. It is
a rash act. Everything: is against me — even the elements."
The jurv returned a verdict of 1 Temporary insanity.' — Obs.,
March loth, 1852.

Betting and Suicide. — On Tuesday, Mr. Langham, deputy
coroner for Westminster, held an inquest at St. James's Work-
house, Poland street, Oxford street, on the body of Geo. Bear,
aged 42. Deceased was in the service of Lady Charlotte
Dundas, and that lady having been out of town for some time,
he had been residing at the George the Fourth public house,
Leicester street, Regeut street, with the landlord of which he
had been long acquainted. Mr. Pope, the landlord, said de-
ceased was never cheerful or communicative, but a few days
ago he told him that if one of two horses he mentioned won
the Derby, he should be ' all right;' and on Wednesday last
he went to see the race, in company with a gentleman's servant
named John Davis, who could not be produced at the inquest.
On Saturday last deceased went as usual to the Earl of Zet-
land's to know if there was any communication for him from
his mistress, and he then appeared in his usual spirits, and went
to bed about his usual time that night in a double-bedded room.
About seven next morning he was seen in bed alive and well ;
but about eleven he was found lying in the bed quite cold, with
a large incision of an oblique direction across the bend of the
left arm, dividing the arteries and tendons. From the absence
of witnesses who could give material evidence, the inquiry was
adjourned." — Observer, June 1th, 1852.

With these cases, I take leave of the subject, and am,
sir Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant, &c,
To Major Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Georgia, U. S. of America.

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

LETTER XIV.

WANT OF EDUCATION AMONG THE MASSES IN THIS COUNTRY

— THE STATE OF CRIME IN THE UNITED KINGDOM NUMBER

OF OFFENCES COMMITTED BY WOMEN AND CHILDREN

NUMBERS OF WOMEN OF THE TOWN, AND ILLEGITIMATE
CHILDREN.

London, August 1st, 1853.

Dear Major : — I next call your attention to the general
prevalence of ignorance, or rather the absence of educa-
tion, among the masses in this land of boasted civilization.

In that useful book known as " Chambers's Information
for the People," published by William and Robert Cham-
bers, of Edinburgh, I find it stated that " Probably from
a tenth to an eighth of the people of England and Wales
are now receiving school instruction " — [ Vol. I., p. 459,
Phil. Ed.] At page 460, I also find it said that " Edu-
cation is actively conducted in America, and it is calcu-
lated that about a sixth of the population are at school."
But there are some tests of the absence of education
among this people which are truly surprising. It is said
that the Begistrar General's returns for England and
Wales, for the three years 1839, 1840, and 1841, show
that, out of 367,894 couples who were married during
those years, 122,457 men and 181,378 women signed the
register with their marks. That is to say, not very far
from one-half (very nearly one-half the women, and a few
more than one-third of the men) were unable to write
their names. This seems to be confirmed by what I find
in " Chambers's Information for the People," to the effect
that " Of the 121,083 couples married during the year
ending June 30th, 1839, there were 40,587 men, and

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

147

58,959 women, who, being unable to write their names,
were obliged to sign by marks. The proportion of men
unable to write was thus thirty-three per cent.; of women,
forty-nine per cent.; medium, forty-one. The trustwor-
thiness of this test was confirmed by the registration of
the ensuing year; when, amongst the 124,339 couples,
41,812 men and 62,523 women were found to sign with
marks ; and the proportion in various districts was also
nearly the same." In the " British Almanac" for the pre-
sent year, I find that the total number of marriages re-
gistered in England and Wales for the year 1850 were
152,783; that of this number 47,570 were men, and
70,601 were women (more than one-third) ; who signed
the register with their marks.

Referring to the rural population, the u British Alma-
nac " for 1851 says that " Generation after generation has
vegetated on the soil, from time immemorial, without re-
ceiving, for the greater part, any school or book educa-
tion— just like the produce of the fields, which grew up,
and was cut down in its season, as they were. They have
been left as much alone as though the country had still
been in a savage state. Civilization has, in fact, only
been extended to them by reflection from those above
them, whose numbers in proportion to their own are one
to four or five.1'' You will scarcely be surprised at this
when you shall have read some of the instances and ex-
amples of this imperfect civilization which I have in re-
serve for you. And now I ask, is it any wonder that
crime ventures to stalk abroad in the dark night of igno-
rance which envelopes this people ?

For no blessing conferred upon our country does a kind
and beneficent Providence more deserve our gratitude
than for our exemption from crime, as compared with
other lands, and especially with this United Kingdom. I
will state a few facts for your information on this head :

In the " British Almanac " for the present year, I find
the following table. A similar statement is contained in
the " Companion to the Year Book of General Informa-
tion."

148

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

" ABSTRACTS OF PARLIAMENTARY DOCUMENTS.

Number of Personi

Committed for
Year 18*51.

Trial or Bailed

the

ENGLAND AND WALES.
Offences against the Person

Offences against property with vio- )

lence )

Ditto without violence

Malicious offences against Property-
Forgery and offences against the)

Currency J

Other offeuces

Total *

SCOTLAND.

Offences against the Person

Offences against Property with vio- )

lence S

Ditto without violence

Malicious offences against Property-
Forgery and offences against the )

Currency J

Other offences ....

2,218
2,060
21.906
305

27,960

Total f

1,923
54

Convictions.

S* h «

H<8 %

126

252

4,0011 1

144

714

1782
94

270
2

502

u .

3 eifr m
1,263 10

8271 1

15.564
54

647

318

4551
155

S09

Execut*n of Ca-
pital Sentences.

59 £H >

18,07

296

1,298
36

173

22 6359

907 1

10 56

5 3

* Of the total commitments, 22,391 were males, and 5569 females.

f Of the total commitments fur Scotland, 2892 were males, and 1109 females; of the
whole, 509 were not more than sixteen years of age, and forty-nine were ahove sixty ;
830 could neither read nor write, 2398 could read and write imperfectly, and seventy
seven had had a superior education. Under the head of insane, etc., are included seven
teen persons who were outlawed — that is, who had escaped.

Offences in Ireland. — In the year 1851, there were 25,369
persons committed for trial, of whom 14,415 were convicted
and sentenced — nine to death, 1985 to transportation for vari-
ous periods, 10,818 to imprisonment for various periods, and
1543 to other punishments."

The sum total of offences here is large ; but that which
is more especially remarkable is the great number of atro-
cious offences,* and the number of offences committed by

* See Appendix, A, \ 11, for a comparison with the state of crime in
Georgia. Also, §120, 21, 22, 23, 29. Also, App., C, \\ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7,
8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 25, as to crime among the slaves.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

149

women and children. Of the crimes committed in Eng-
land and "Wales, twenty-four in a hundred, or about one
in four, are committed by women; and of those com-
mitted in Scotland, thirty-eight m a hundred, or about
one in every two and two-thirds, are committed by
women.* And in Scotland, in every 100 offenders there
were 12T50%, or just one in eight, who were under sixteen
years of age. But in connection with this last feature of
the table, I shall have more to say -to you hereafter.

The extent to which illicit relations between the sexes
prevails among certain classes of this people, is also shown
by figures and statistics, which they themselves report.
In the " British Almanac " for this year, I find it stated
that, in the year 1850, there were born, in England and
Wales, 593,422 children, 302,834 of whom were males,
and 290,588 were females ; and that of these, 40,307, or
nearly seven per cent., were illegitimate — that is to say,
about one in every fourteen. All accounts agree that the
number of women of the town to be found in the cities is
enormous ; and one writer says, " In the principal streets
[of London], I verily believe, during the evening, if you
stand still, you will be passed by one every minute." [Cole-
mans Letters, p. 11.) This author is an American, I
believe, but one by no means prejudiced against the Bri-
tish people, as his book shows.

I remain, dear Major,

Respectfully,

Y'r ob't serv't and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

* See App., A, \\ 12, 24, 29, for the proportion of crimes committed
by women in Georgia. Also, App., B, \\ 4, 7, 13; App., C, 33 2, 8,
9, 21.

13*

150 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD * OR,

LETTEE XV.

SOCIAL PROFLIGACY CONTINUED COURT OF EXCHEQUER — ■

TEES VS. AVIS — EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE OF PROFLIGACY
AND DEPRAVED TASTE — MAHOMET ABRAHAM (A BLACK

BEGGAR) AND ELIZA J A HORRIBLE PIECE OF LONDON

ROMANCE PROFLIGACY IN LONDON.

London, August loth, 1853.

Dear Major : — I propose now to submit for your con-
sideration some facts which have been brought to my
attention, showing the profligate relations of the sexes
among a portion of the population of this country, and
the degraded moral character of the lower classes.

Not long since, I paid a visit to the Court of Exche-
quer, as it is called, and I will tell you what I heard there.
But first, let me suggest that they have many courts here,
held at an immense expense, of which you, as an Ameri-
can, and accustomed to cheap justice, can form no con-
ception. This much, however, must be admitted — that
the article is comparatively good here, when paid for;
except, perhaps, where men are tried for violence to
women. In other cases, it may be said that there is
something like accuracy in the administration of justice
by the courts; and this cannot always be said of our
courts. But it must be confessed that the expense of
demanding one's rights in a court of justice here, or of
defending them, is frequently ruinous ; and that this ope-
rates in many instances, to prevent a redress of wrongs.
One of these days, I may give you the benefit of some
information I have obtained here on this subject.

In the mean time, I will introduce you to the Court of
Exchequer. It was my first visit, though I had previously
been to the Court of Chancery, and the King's Bench. I
found the judge and the lawyers in wigs and gowns, and
getting on with much more of routine and loss of bustle

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

151

than with us. The judge was courteous and patient, but
ruled the proceedings with decision and firmness. The
case which was tried whilst I was present was brought by
a person for the recovery of certain articles of household
furniture, plate, and jewelry, which it was alleged his wife
had carried away from him, when deserting his bed and
board, into the possession of the defendant. The wife
had died, and the suit was brought after her death.
During the progress of the evidence, it transpired that
the plaintiff had married the woman whilst he had an-
other wife living ; the woman (last married) had eloped
from him with a Mr. Taylor, whom she deserted, in his
turn, for Mr. Avis, the defendant ; that this Mr. Avis had
four daughters, the oldest of whom was twenty-one years
old, and the youngest fifteen; and that the father, his
paramour, and one of these daughters, together occupied
the same bed. You will agree with me, I am sure, that
such a story would shock the lowest of our slaves ; and
that such a rare bird as this Avis is entirely unknown in
our country.

Think of such a state of facts as here set forth, taking
place in London in the year of Christ, 1853 ! Not among the
very lowest dregs of the population, either, but among per-
sons having some means, and possessed of furniture, plate,
&c. In order that you may see that I have accurately
reported the facts, I send you an extract from the Observer
newspaper, where you will see that the case seems to have
been treated by the Court in a matter-of-fact, every-day
sort of way, and not as anything unusually shocking :

" SOCIAL PROFLIGACY.

In the Exchequer Court, on Wednesday, the case of Tees v.
Avis, was tried before Mr. Baron Piatt. Mr. Hawkins, in
stating this case to the jury, said the plaintiff was the foreman
of a tailor carrying on business in Little Earl street, Soho, and
the defendant was an auctioneer, upholsterer, and undertaker,
in High street, St. Giles's. The action was brought to recover
a quantity of household furniture, plate, jewelry, &c. In the
year 1836 the plaintiff became acquainted with a Miss Diana
Wales, a person of considerable beauty, and married her at St.
Martin's church. They lived together for two years, when Mrs.

152

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

Tees attracted the attention of a Mr. Taylor, a tailor, in Bond
street. He induced her to leave her home, and she lived for
some time under his protection, during which he made her a
great many valuable presents. She, however, proved unfaith-
ful to Mr. Taylor. The defendant, having been called to make
some articles of upholstery, was struck with the attractions of
the then " Mrs. Taylor," and he induced her to leave the tai-
lor's and go to the undertaker's shop, where she lived with the
defendant until August last, when she died. Upon her death,
Mr. Tees, the plaintiff, demanded the furniture, plate, jewelry,
and effects belonging to his late wife, which she had taken to
the defendant's house, of the value altogether of about £150.
All these things she had when the undertaker took her, and he
refused to give up possession of a single article to the plaintiff,
in consequence of which the present action had been brought.
The learned counsel then proceeded to call witnesses to prove
the foregoing facts. A woman called Harris, who had been
an intimate friend of Mrs. Tees, and was present at her mar-
riage, said that she believed Mr. Tees had another wife then
living who had left him. Avis, the defendant, was present at
the wedding. He had four daughters — the eldest 21, and the
youngest 15 years of age, living with him when he took Mrs.
Tees into his house. This witness spoke of several articles of
furniture and other things which she had seen at the defen-
dant's belonging to Mrs. Tees, and said that the defendant
had enlarged one of Mrs. Tees's bedsteads to enable her, his
daughter, and himself to occupy it together. Other witnesses
were called to complete the plaintiff's case. Mr. M. Chambers
addressed the jury on behalf of the defendant, contending that
the plaintiff did not come into court with clean hands, seeing
that in the first instance he had married a second wife during
the lifetime of the first, about whom he appeared to have taken
no interest from the day of their separation. Then, again, the
expenses of the funeral of this poor woman had been paid by
the defendant, and he considered, therefore, that he had a rea-
sonable claim upon the few effects which she had left behind.
Mr. Baron Piatt told the jury that the morality of the case was
not a question for their consideration; for, whilst it appeared
that the plaintiff had married a second wife during the lifetime
of the first, the defendant had thought proper to take one of
those wives into his keeping. The law of the land was, that
when a wife died, the husband was entitled to any property
she might have, unless it was otherwise settled. The jury found
fur the plaintiff, with eighty-five pounds damages." — Observer,
January 2lth, 1853.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

153

When I returned to my rooms, I related to Buck what
I had heard and witnessed of the trial at Court. We were
now in the frequent habit of interchanging remarks upon
the novelties with which we met ; and for my amusement
as well as interest, I encouraged him to talk with me
about such things. When I had given him the story of
the undertaker and his broad bed —

" Marster," said he, " who is undertaker? What do he
undertake ?"

" He makes coffins and attends funerals and burials,"
said I.

"As God is my Judge, Marster,"* said Buck, "I had
rather live forever, than be buried by sich a villian of an
undertaker."

I witnessed a still more extraordinary instance of pro-
fligacy, if that be possible, some time during the last sum-
mer. Being near the Bank of England, in Cornhill, I
ordered the coach in which I was riding with my servant,
to stop near the Boyal Exchange, where I got out, told
Buck to do the same, and to wait for me there a short
time, as I desired to look into the Bank for a few minutes.
I left, and proceeded to the Bank ; where I had been a
very short time when Buck made his appearance, panting
and steaming with excitement.

"Mass Pies — Mass Pies — " (he frequently thus,
when much excited, called me as he had been accus-
tomed to do in our childhood), " Mass Pies — come
quick. I have got the oncommonest sight to show you,
that you have seen sence you come to this country;" and
he rapidly hurried me out, saying as we went, " We must
make haste, and git to the Mansion House, Marster, jest
over thar," pointing in the direction of that building.

" That is the residence of the Lord Mayor," said I.

"Adzackly, Marster, and he is going to have the outen-
est set before him that ever I seed in my born days."

He then informed me that immediately after I had left
him, he saw approaching, a blind black man and a white
girl in the custody of the police.

"They had been tuk up for something nuther," Buck
said, "but he didn't know what adzackly."

As they were being taken towards the Mansion House,

154 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

he said lie had approached the party and learned some-
thing of the circumstances, and where they were being
carried, and then he scampered off for me, that I might
have a chance of " seeing the show."

" He was a raal greasy ole nigger, Marster, and the
young white oman saicL she was his wife, and would foller
him to the worlds eend, said she, and would live and die
with him, said she," spluttered Buck, as we fairly ran
across Cornhill in the direction of the Mansion House.
"And he was blind at that, Marster, and ugly as a har-
ricane."

We reached the place a very little time after the arri-
val of the prisoners ; and there, sure enough, I witnessed
one of the most remarkable cases of depravity and degra-
dation that I had ever seen. You shall have the facts
from the police report, as it appeared in a London paper
of the time; for I feel that you might suspect me of
" romancing" with you, if I left you to trust my statement
alone. Here is a statement from the Observer of June
7th, 1852:

" police intelligence — Saturday, Jane 5.

Mansion House. — Extraordinary Instance of Profligacy
and Depraved Taste. — Mahomet Abraham, a jet black blind
beggarman, who is usually led through the streets by a brown

dog, and Eliza , aged 23, the daughter of a gentleman

who resides in London, were brought before the Lord Mayor
by Henry Major, an officer of the Mendicity Society. The
male prisoner was a peculiarly revolting object, his head being
covered with long matted hair, and the covering upon his limbs
being tattered and filthy in an extreme degree. The female
was a small-sized, pretty-faced girl, presenting a remarkable
contrast to the wretched creature who accompanied and was
cherished by her.

The Mendicity officer said : At twenty minutes past eleven
o'clock, I saw the two prisoners together in Bishopsgate street.
They had come from Halifax street, where they live together,
and the girl fastened a petition to the man's breast, and placed
him and his dog near the Sir Paul Pindar public house, in an
attitude of supplication. As soon as she had deposited him
to her satisfaction against the wall, she retired from him. I
soon saw him receive a penny, and I apprehended them both.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

155

The following is a copy of the petition, which was stitched
round with black tape : —

" The humble petition of Mahomet Abraham, a native of
Calcutta, East Indies. He was brought to this country in the
barque Diana, Captain Brown ; was kept ashore in the Infir-
mary, Liverpool, for fever and inflammation in the eyes, where
he was deprived of his precious sight. Being a stranger, far,
far away from home, he is forced to trust to the kind, benevo-
lent, and humane, who feel for the misfortunes of others.

Gold is much,
The loss of health is more;

The loss of light is such
God only can restore.
The Lord loveth a cheerful giver."

The Lord Mayor: Is it possible that those two persons
have been living together ?

The Mendicity Officer : I have traced them to their very bed,
and have been particularly informed of their habits.

Captain Wood, of the Mendicity Society : The case is cer-
tainly the most extraordinary I have met with in all my expe-
rience, and discloses not only a singular instance of perverted
taste, but other peculiarities calculated to excite surprise, and
illustrate the begging system. Perhaps the most explicit way
of informing your lordship of the circumstances of the case is
by reading a letter which I received from the young woman's
father, who is present in this justice room : —

' To the Secretary Mendicity Society, Red Lion Square.

Dear Sir : — I beg to submit the following distressing case to
your sympathies, and to solicit from you the advice and assist-
ance which I am led to understand is kindly afforded by your
society in extraordinary cases out of the pale of parental au-
thority. By birth and education a gentleman, I married in
the year 1829 a lady in the same sphere of society, by whom I
had issue two daughters, the eldest of whom (the unfortunate
subject of this application) now 23 years of age, was from the
age of three months brought up and educated in the first style
by her maternal grandfather and grandmother. At their de-
cease, about seven or eight years since, she became an unwill-
ing inmate of her parent's dwelling, from which she contrived
to get away with a married man, and was not heard of (having
eluded the efforts of the police to trace her for many months;
until the receipt of a letter in the Times newspaper, from Mr

156

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

D'Arcy, our solicitor, at Newton Abbot, in Devonshire, in
which paper a detailed and humane account of the distressing
condition of a young lady then lying at St. Luke's workhouse,
appeared under the assumed name of Elizabeth Allen. This
accouut, as regarded my daughter, abounded with the most
atrocious falsehoods, as detailed by herself to the Board of
Guardians of St. Luke's. My wife (having a cousin of the
name, to whom the solicitor suggested it might apply) went to
St. Luke's, and found our daughter to be the person whose
case had been detailed in the Times, and on her being brought
before them and her mother, was there and then convicted of
deliberate falsehood and fraud, and handed over to her mother.
Exertions were then successfully made to get her cured of a
complication of loathsome disorders at Bartholomew's Hospital,
from whence, after being brought to a state of convalescence,
and robbing some of the nurses of small sums of money, she
escaped, and again was lost sight of for many months, when a
gentleman, a friend of the family, saw and gave her into cus-
tody of the police, who restored her once more to her afflicted
parents. Her conduct from this period was infamous in the
extreme, and, on her coming of age, she threw off all restraint,
and having a small house property in Devonshire, subject to
her parents' interest, but which was waved in her favor, she
left us, nor did we know of her whereabouts, until about ten
months since, I met her in the streets of Whitechapel, in the
last stage of destitution, filth, and rags, singing ballads. My
humanity once again led me to speak with her aud to remon-
strate, the result of which was that we/ took her home, cleansed,
clothed, and cared for her. This lasted but a short time, and
her recurrence to her former habits again precluded all know-
ledge respecting her, until, a few days since, we received a letter
from our solicitor, saying he had heard from our daughter, as
the wife of a Mr. Abraham, desiring the sale of her property,
and requesting him to take the necessary steps — one of these
and the preliminary step, being our signatures and consent.

My first impulse was to visit the locality specified in the
solicitor's letter, ' 7 Little Halifax street, Whitechapel,' and
there, in one miserable room, cohabiting with a black, blind
beggar, who perambulates the street with a brown dog, this
wretched girl is to be found. The parties who live in the same
house say that she has been cohabiting with this monstrous
loathsome being for two months, and that they live most luxu-
riously. Her mother, who has had an interview with her, states
that she boasts of this man's bringing her home from the west

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

157

end frequently 15s. per day, and on an average Ts. or 8s. per
diem. She stated herself to have been married to him seven
months since at Whitechapel church, which, on careful inquiry,
I find to be false, having examined the church books and seen
the officials on the subject. These latter circumstances induce
me to think that the humanity and exertions of your society
may be made available for the suppression of so much vice, and
the salvation of this unfortunate child.'

The Lord Mayor : Certainly this is the most horrible piece
of London romance I ever heard of, and it would be quite in-
credible if I had not here before me all the parties concerned.
Is it possible, young woman, that you can have any respect or
affection for the miserable creature at your side ?

The Female Prisoner : Yes, I have both respect and affec-
tion for him. I have no idea of leaving him. We can do very
well together (and she laid hold of the tatterdemalion's greasy
black paw).

The Mendicity Officer : The man has been begging about
for several years, and I have no doubt is well able to keep a
woman in great luxury. I am convinced that the girl has been
attracted by the excellent living with which he indulges her.
They have been in the habit of getting the best, and she does
not deny it.

The Female Prisoner : Well, I can't go home, and I won't
go home.

The black said he had been dog-led through the streets of
London for eight years, that there could be no mistake about
his blindness, and if any one knew how a blind man was to sup-
port himself, except upon the kindness of those who were not
blind, he would be much obliged to be informed in what way.

The Lord Mayor then communicated privately with the
father of the girl, and both prisoners were remanded."

"Tell you what 'tis, Marster," said Buck, when we
were again in the street, " hit do seem to me like that
ole nigger been usen some conjure trick on that gal.
Why, Marster, there ain't a yaller gal 'mong all them
lazy, good-for-nothing Goings free niggers that live thar
in the outskearts of Pineville what ud take up with sich
a scarcrow as that ole nigger. Sal Goings herself, low
down as she is, wouldn't do it, much more any of our

thar's some conjuration 'bout it, sir. Howbeever, sir, I

slave people, Marster. Poor gal !

;al ! I must think

158

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

don't know arter all, why we should be so conffumuxed
about it, Marster. These English people seem tereble
fond of niggers, any how. The quality (what they call
the rastocracy, sir) take on about niggers monstrously,
and set a heap by 'um. The poor people here love to
foller arter the quality, and hits no wonder that they fall
in love with niggers some."

There is no telling how long Buck would have conti-
nued in this strain of moralizing on the shocking scene
we had witnessed, if I had not abruptly checked him, and
told him I desired to be left to my thoughts.

The case just referred to, Major, may be deemed very
horrible by the Lord Mayor, as it undoubtedly is, but it
is by means a solitary instance on the part of English
women, of a taste for black men. On the contrary, you
will find from the following, that hybrids are increasing
in London, and I suppose you will join Buck in agreeing
that all things considered, it is not very wonderful.

" William Fortinie, a man of color, was charged with refu-
sing to support his illegitimate child. Margaret Mackey said
she was engaged by M. Robin, the great conjurer, in Tich-
borne street, to do work, and there met with the defendant,
who was also employed to assist in the tricks and conjurations
at the theatre. The defendant contrived to become intimate
with her, and the result was the little copper-colored fac simile
of the father. The defendant, notwithstanding the prima facie
proof of paternity presented by the child, stoutly declared he
was not the father. The complainant had no other corrobo-
rative proof than that which was afforded by the unmistake-
able resemblance between child and putative father. Mr. Har-
wick was hardly inclined to think that this kind of proof was
the corrobative evidence contemplated by law. It was just
possible that defendant was not the father, as there were other
black men in London. He should therefore remand the case,
to see if the complainant could bring some kind of corrobora-
tion of her declaration. The case was remanded." — Observer,
Feb. 14//?, 1853.

I will return to the subject of social profligacy hereaf-
ter. And in the meantime, I am, dear Major,

Your friend and cousin,
P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

159

LETTEE XVI.

SOCIAL PROFLIGACY IN LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER, AND
THEIR VICINITY — ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHAPLAIN OF
KIRKDALE JAIL.

London, September 1st, 1853.

Dear Major : — Such profligacy as I have been de-
scribing is not confined to London. To show this, I will
send you accounts taken from other parts of the country.
Here is one from Liverpool, exhibiting to some extent the
state of social morals in that city, in Manchester, and
their vicinity. Kirkclale Jail is in the neighborhood of
Liverpool, and is used for the surrounding country to a
considerable extent.

"ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHAPLAIN OF KIRKDALE JAIL.

I have the honor of presenting my thirteenth annual report -
to the magistrates.

The period which it embraces has been marked by few oc-
currences that call for any peculiar notice.

The total number of prisoners admitted within the building,
from the 20th of October, 1851, to the 20th of October, 1852,
has been 2141, showing an increase of 355 over that of the
preceding year. Of this number, 312 are found amongst the
summary convictions, 43 alone being the excess of the other
two classes together. This increase will not, however, be in-
considerably reduced by subtracting the number of the Wigan
borough prisoners, who have, for the last few months, been
brought to this jail, instead of, as formerly, to Preston.

I am happy to state that, although the calendars for the
year contain the names of nine prisoners charged with wilful
murder, besides two with attempts to commit that dreadful
crime, and five for infanticide, we have again been spared the
painful scene of an execution. Sentence of death was, indeed,
passed at the last assizes upon two sisters, for attempting to
poison the illegitimate daughter of one of them, with oxalic

160 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

acid ; but the sentence was subsequently commuted to trans-
portation for life.

On turning to the assize calendars, we find that the follow-
ing are the material differences in the committals for the two
years : —

1851. 1852. Decrease.

Charged with manslaughter 45 33 12

" " burglary and house-breaking 83 56 27

11 " base coin transactions 12 5 7

" " forgery 20 9 11

" " rape 15 9 6

On the other hand, we have the committals for street and
highway robbery increased from 52 (in 1851) to 100 (in 1852).
The great majority of these cases have occurred in the borough
of Manchester, and have been in very many instances accom-
panied by severe violence to the throat. The judges have
thought it right to express themselves in very strong terms
upon the prevalence of this crime in that town ; and, de-
termined to do all in their power to repress it, have in almost
every case of conviction sentenced the offender to ten or fifteen
years' transportation.

I do not know that I have any novelty to notice in the
motives or causes which have supplied us with somewhat more
than our usual aggregate number of offenders during the past
year. There certainly have been comparatively few cases in
which want of employment has converted the honest man into
a felon. I must once more reiterate what I have, year after
year, felt myself obliged to remark, that drunkenness is, in
nine cases out of ten, the parent of the crime which you are
called upon to punish, and that I despair of seeing any great
reduction in the number of criminals in this country, until this
blighting curse of our laboring population, in all its various
classes, has been eradicated. I wish I could see any improve-
ment in this respect, but I grieve to state that the experience
of the past year has been only too like that of its predecessors ;
and my journal abounds, as usual, with such notices as the fol-
lowing, which I extract almost at random : —

Dec. 29. I had an interview with four boys, all under 20
years of age, for robbing a man in Dryden street, Liverpool,
on Christmas night. All of them had been drinking spirits
at some neighboring vaults.

Feb. 3. A man named Patrick M'D , for the assizes,

charged with the wilful murder of a man with a stone, after a

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

161

drunken quarrel. They bad both, according to his statement,
been up drinking all the night. He names three vaults at
which he had been himself drinking, in and near Deansgate,
after twelve o'clock that morning. The man was killed between
seven and eight, A. M.

March 30. Forty-nine prisoners from Manchester came be-
fore me this morning, for the ensuing assizes, almost all for
street robberies. I have again to remark that from the state-
ments of these prisoners Manchester appears to be in a fearful
state during the whole night : any quantity of spirituous
liquors is procurable, they say, at all hours. It seems that
several of what are called night houses are allowed to be open
throughout the night, some for the convenience of the market
people, others for the cab-drivers. At these places drinking
goes on throughout the whole night, to a lamentable extent,
according to the statements of numbers of prisoners to myself.

April 12. A man named James Dowd, for the assizes,
charged with a murder in a drunken brawl, at Liverpool.
The party had. been drinking until one o'clock in a whisky
cellar.

November 20. Visited two men in dark cells ; one of them

named P is one of the most refractory prisoners we have

ever had in the jail. He has been many times before, and
was once whipped. He bears a very bad character outside, as
wrell as many others of his family. His father, I am told, was
a very drunken man, and at the time of coming of age, of the
present owner of the Speke estate, he was seen by my inform-
ant lying on a form, with upturned mouth, calling out to a
man who stood over him with a can of liquor — 1 Now teem it
into me as you are a Christian P Another son of this man,
in company with some others, found a cask of rum in the river,
on one occasion, and they drank the whole of it amongst them ;
after which he died himself, and the rest very nearly shared the
same fate.

Nov. 4. John A , for the assizes, a respectable farmer

at Kirkby, under the Earl of Sefton, charged wTith the man-
slaughter of another of the Earl's tenant farmers, by throwing
him over a pailing — both being in a state of intoxication.
Both 60 years of age, and with large families.

The following extract shows the mischievous effects which
such books as Jack Sheppard are calculated to produce : —

Dec. 13. Conversed with two Stockport boys, 15 years of
age, each convicted and sentenced to six calendar months, at
the present assizes, for stopping a lady on the Manchester road,
14* L

162

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

and demanding her money or her life. The story they both
tell is in substance this : — 'We have for some time past been
reading the lives of Dick Turpin, Jack Sheppard, and Claude
Duval, placed in our hands by the man under whom one of us
works in the factory. We both of us at length determined to
try if we could not ourselves perform some of their exploits,
and, for this purpose, got a pistol and loaded it with powder,
paper, and a small stone ; and on the night of Saturday last,
sallied forth in the direction of Manchester, to watch for a
favorable opportunity. A lady met us, and we rushed up to
her and demanded her money. She declared she had none.
We then presented the pistol and said : — 'If you do not give
us something, we will blow out your brains.' At this instant
a young man came up, and we were prevented from making
any further attempt, and apprehended '

We have had nine deaths in the jail during the year — one
that of an Irish youth, which is thus alluded to in my journal
of March 17. Before he died, he begged that he might not
be buried in the shirt which he had brought into the jail, be-
cause it was a stolen one. He also expressed a wish that his
mother, who lived in the county Longford, might be informed
of his having died in jail ; and be at the same time told that
absolute want could alone have driven him to commit the bur-
glary of which he had been convicted, and for which he had
been sentenced to four calendar months' imprisonment. Poor
fellow ! he was throughout his illness as patient as a lamb, and
most grateful for any act or word of kindness from any one.
He said before he died, that he hoped his brother would take
warning by his fate, and never be induced, by any motive what-
ever, to commit a crime.

Another death was that of a man named Metcalfe, who cut
his throat fatally with a razor in his separate cell. He had
been brooding over the loss of his little property, which had
been sold to pay the expenses of his trial at the last assizes.

There has been no alteration in any respect in the jail
during the past year. Everything continues to go on witli the
same admirable regularity ; and no stranger ever leaves the
building without speaking in the highest terms of the excel-
lent discipline, the uniform cleanliness, and the perfect order
which prevails throughout. The same occupations are still
followed that I remarked upon last year; the principal of
which, cloth and mat weaving, and shoe-binding, keep several
hands constantly, and, 1 hope, profitably employed.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

163

It is very painful to me to have to add to ray tables so long
a list of recommitments during the past year. I must allow,
it is very discouraging to find that our labors are so often all
but fruitless. All, however, is not dark; for I have before me
now several letters from those to whom their imprisonment has
proved a blessing, and who express in the warmest terms the
gratitude they feel for the instruction they have here received,
and the good they have derived from this visitation of an all-
gracious Providence.

Richard Appleton.

November, 1852."

[Liverpool Mercury, December Bd, 1852.

I have more to say on this subject, but must put it into
another letter ; and only add now, that I am, dear sir,

Your friend and cousin,
P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones, Pineville, Geo.,

U. S. of America.

LETTER XVII.

SOCIAL PROFLIGACY ABANDONMENT OF AN INFANT BY ITS

MOTHER HORRIBLE DEPRAVITY SOCIAL PROFLIGACY IN

SCOTLAND.

London, September 16th, 1853.

Dear Major : — On the 17th or 18th of November last,
I attended the Middlesex Sessions, and witnessed another
case of awful depravity — one which excited the most pro-
found emotions among the bystanders. I send you a
report of the same, published a few days thereafter.

"DISTRESSING CASE.

Elizabeth Bromwich, twenty-one years of age, was indicted
for unlawfully, wickedly, and cruelly deserting and aban-
doning her infant child, aged seven weeks, and exposing

164

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

it in the open air, whereby its life was endangered. Robert
Lester, inspector of the C division of police, stated that
the prisoner, at a little past two on the morning of the
25th of last month, was brought by police constable 199 C to
the Vine street police station, charged by Alfred Stroud with
child-murder some months back. The prisoner said she wished
to speak the truth. She had nothing to hide, and threw her-
self on their mercy. She then stated that she was delivered
of a female child on the 14th of April last, at a house in King
street, Regent street. It was ill from its birth ; and on the
27 th of May, it appeared to be dying, and she took it to Mr.
Harding, a surgeon in Silver street, who had attended her in
her confinement ; and he told her that it would not live over
the day. She was advised by Ellen Davis to put the child
near some gentleman's house ; and that then, if it was found,
and it did not live, it would have decent burial. She went to
Harapsted and put the child near the Well- walk, -and left it
there. It was alive then. She also said that she had since
seen bills in a window about a child having been found, and
asked Stroud to let her inquire about it ; but he told her not
to go, as she might get punished. On this story being told,
the prisoner was detained, and a constable was then sent to
Hampsted, and brought back the child's clothes, which she
said were those the child had on when she left it. He (wit-
ness) told her that the child was alive, and she exclaimed,
1 Oh, thanks ! Shall I have it again V She said that Davis
and herself had bought two pennyworth of laudanum at two
shops, and that she had received a certificate from Mr. Hard-
ing that the child died on the 27th, of infectious disease. She
said that she got this certificate to show to Stroud, with whom
she had been living, and who was in the hospital at the time.
Davis was originally taken into custody, but the magistrate
admitted her subsequently as a witness. In cross-examination,
the witness said that Stroud was the man who brought her to
the station, charging her with murdering her child some
months ago. He (witness) knew that she lived with him. He
had seen her in a fearful state, covered with bruises ; and when
she was brought to the station she was covered with blood,
her eyes bloodshot, and both sides of her nice black and blue
from bruises. She explained that she had been living with
Stroud for some months, and that he had been living on
the wages of her guilt. Latterly her earnings were small,
and she was obliged to pawn some of his clothes to enable
them to live ; and he became jealous, and charged her with

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

165

spending the money she got on other men, and beat her in this
way. He came out of the hospital about two months after
the birth of her child, and they lived together since and
before. She walked the streets to support him for many
months. Police constable 199 C stated that, on the morning
in question, he was called in, and Stroud gave the prisoner in
charge for the murder of her child. The prisoner went into
hysterics, and Stroud told him that she had given the child two
pennyworth of laudanum, and took and left it at Hampstead
heath. When she recovered, she said, 1 Oh 1 Alfred, how can
you say that V

Ellen Davis deposed to having gone with the prisoner to
Mr. Harding's to get a certificate of the child's death. The
prisoner told her that it was dead, and she believed that she
told Mr. Harding what was said to her. She went with the
prisoner and her child to Hampstead, where she said she had
another child with her mother. This was about the middle of
the day, and when there the prisoner went away with her child,
and was absent about twenty minutes, and returned without
the child, saying that she had left it at her mother's. At this
time she (witness) was supporting her and her baby, for the
prisoner was very badly off. Mr. Harding, when they went
there with the baby, told the prisoner that the child could not
live many hours. Mr. Harding stated that he was called in to
the prisoner in her confinement, and had attended her since.
On the 27th of May the prisoner and Davis brought the child
to him. He told them it appeared to be dying, and the pri-
soner said she was going to take it to her mother's. The pri-
soner always seemed to him very attentive to the child, but she
was in a state of great misery and want. Charles Satterth-
waite stated that he was playing cricket on Hampstead-heath,
at about a quarter past 6, on the afternoon of the day in ques-
tion. The ball went through a hedge, and he followed and
picked it up. He saw a parcel, apparently lying under a bush,
and found that it was a child. This was about 300 yards from
any house, and about 100 yards from any public road. Mr.
Aldrichjthe master of the workhouse, said the child was brought
there about 7 o'clock. It was placed in a warm bath, and had
a wetnurse provided, and he thought it was now likely to
live.

Mr. Payne, in his address to the jury, commented on the brutal
conduct throughout of the man Stroud, and noticed the credit
that was due to the parties by whose instrumentality the child

166

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

had been rescued from death. His client never had, nor did
she now deny that she deserted her child, but under all the
circumstances she did not think they would come to the con-
clusion that she did so maliciously, and with intent to endanger
its life. He wished that Stroud, who was the cause of all the
misery and degradation that this poor woman had endured,
could have been placed at the bar — he who had accused her
because she did not bring him sufficient wages for support,
and who dragged her in the middle of the night, bruised and
beaten, to a police station, and made a charge against her
that might have perilled her life. The learned counsel then
drew the attention of the jury to the different points in the
prisoner's conduct which would justify them in acquitting
her. The Assistant Judge having summed up, the foreman
of the jury said that they considered that the prisoner was
guilty of placing the child where it was found, but without
any malicious intent. Mr. Payne said that was tantamount to
a verdict of not guilty, and the jury accordingly returned a
verdict of acquittal." — Weekly Dispatch, Nov. 2lst, 1852.

The verdict of the jury was waited for with great in-
terest, and the audience were much gratified when the
prisoner was acquitted. In this excitement my servant,
who had accompanied me to the Court, largely shared,
and I was forced to interfere and prevent his breaking
out into an exuberance of joy which would have drawn
down the displeasure of the Court. As it was, he relieved
himself as much as he eould by soundly abusing the man
Stroud.

" He is meaner, sir," said he, " than any free nigger in
Georgia, and I bleeved 'fore I left home that they was
'bout the meanest people on yearth. But whoever heard
of a nigger livin on his 'oman's sin, and beatin her at
same time, and clappin climax by perwailin on her to
'stroy her child, and then swarin agin her for doing it,
and tellin lies at that ? Is thar no chance to hang him,
Marster ?"

In the same paper from which I have given you the
above extracts, Major, I found the following article:

11 SHOCKING DEPRAVITY.

Two persons, residing in Pheasant court, Gray's Inn lane,
were charged with having more lodgers in one room than are

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

167

allowed bylaw. It appeared from the evidence of Police-ser-
jeant No. A of the E division, that he had visited the rooms
rented by the defendants, who are Irishmen, and in one apart-
ment he found sixteen adult males and females, nearly in «a
state of nakedness and swarming with vermin, lying or squat-
ing indiscriminately on the bare boards. There were two
children likewise in the same wretched place. In the room of
the other party, the same witness proved a like filthy scene in
language (necessary in the case) which occasioned a sickening
sensation. Mr. Tynvhitt said the testimony was certainly of
a most revolting description, and unhappily too true ; and he
told the defendants if the nuisances were not at once ended, he
would commit them to the House of Correction for a length-
ened period. .They had slipped out of a country which evi-
dently had tolerated such iniquitous goings on ; but, while he
would administer the law mercifully, every means that he could
adopt should be taken to put down the vile practices described.
— Weekly Dispatch, Nov. 21st, 1852.

The following extracts furnish us a leaf from the chap-
ter of social profligacy in Scotland; and, together with
other statistics which have been furnished by me, serve
to throw light upon the state of morals and of civilization
in that part of the United Kingdom :

" OFFENCES BY PUBLICANS.

On Tuesday, at the termination of the ordinary business at
the Central Police Court, a number of cases of offence by
publicans were brought up under Home Drummond's Act,
among which were the following : —

Mrs. Russell, Old Wynd, for having her premises open and
entertaining company between the hours of two and four o'clock,
on the morning of Sunday, the 22cl of May. She denied the
charge in strong terms.

The officer deponed that, after three o'clock, he got admis-
sion by a back door, and found five women — some of them
prostitutes — and eight or nine men in the house, and Mrs.
Russell serving them with liquor at the bar. Tin's was cor-
roborated by a second officer, who characterized it as a very
bad house, that kept a watch for the police.

The magistrate found the breach of the terms of certificate

168

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

clearly proven, and the case was aggravated by the flat denial
of the charge. However, he was inclined to view ii leniently,
solely on account of the time that had been allowed to tran-
spire since the discovery had taken place.

Mr. Burnet explained that the delay had been occasioned
by the difficulty in getting the offender's name and designation
correctly.

Anthony Reynolds, Bridgegate, was accused of selling
spirituous liquors without a certificate, and with having his
premises open on the morning of Sunday the 19th of June.

An officer deponed that, at nine o'clock, on the morning in
question, he obtained admission into Reynolds' house — in plain
clothes — where he counted no less than twenty-seven men and
women at the counter being served with liquor. Reynolds
himself came in and exclaimed — ' Danger approaches, Annie,
douce the glim' (put out the light), and he sprang on the
counter, screwed out the gas, and cried — ' Bring me the rasp-
berry.' The woman, who acted as saleswoman at the counter,
then got flustered, and spilled some whisky from a pewter
stoup, which he found to be whisky from dipping his finger
into it and tasting it. A hustling was then got up in which
he was forcibly ejected. His object in going in was to see
what had attracted a crowd that lingered about the close.

A second policeman corroborated this statement, with the
addition that Reynolds was standing outside looking out while
the selling was going on.

Reynolds pleaded that he sold only raspberry cordial ; but
Bailie Gilmour said this was too sour an argument, and lined
him in £3 10s., or thirty days' imprisonment.

A number of other cases were departed from in consequence
of some irregularity in the terms of the charges."

" CRIMINAL JURY TRIALS.

On Friday a court was held in the Court-house. Sheriff
Smith occupied the bench. The prosecution was conducted
by J. M'Donald, Esq., P. P., and Mr. Cross, writer, Air-
drie, watched over the cases on behalf of the prisoners.
The first produced for trial was an Edward Morrison, a
young man of twenty-one or twenty-two years, charged with
theft from lockfast places. He plead guilty, and was sent to
prison for four months. The next arraigned was an Elizabeth
Inglis, a young girl from Glasgow. She was charged with utter-
ing base coin in the town of Airdrie, on the 1st and 2d of June.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

169

She plead guilty to the charge of uttering, but not to the charge
of knowing it to be base. The court not being satisfied with
this plea, a jury was empannelled, and the case went to trial.
On the evidence it came out that the girl had come to Airdrie
on the May Fair day with a barrow and nuts, or some such
thing. While here with her father she passed the money for
which she was charged with uttering. The father is evidently
a person of the worst class in society. In her declaration too,
she stated that he fraternized with one notorious coiner. The
jury found her guilty, but, on account of her youth, recom-
mended her to the leniency of the court. She was sentenced
to four months' imprisonment. Through her agent, Mr. Cross,
who made for her an able defence, we inquired if she could
read or write. She answered that she could do neither. It
was so with the one that was tried before her. Surely if
society expects its members to perform their relative duties, it
ought, at least, to see that they are trained to know what its
laws are ; unless it believes that all know these intuitively.
From the frankness with which she went about the uttering of
the bad money, we fear the girl learned only on her apprehen-
sion that she had been guilty of a serious offence. Instead of
being let off at the end of four months, she should be sent to
school, or trained within the prison walls, if need be. The
heavy sobs that she gave on hearing her sentence, showed that
though steeped in a worse than Hottentot's ignorance, she was
not lost to a sense of shame from going into prison.

District Court. — During the wreek, Denis Helly and John
Connorton, two boys, were sent to Hamilton, to receive, the
former twenty, and the latter fifteen stripes, for breaking trees
in a plantation on Woodhall estate. It strikes us that in this
instance the justices acted more with the feeling of proprietors,
than that of fathers. Daniel Fisher, a rogue and vagabond,
was sent to prison for sixty days, for taking a bite out of a
loaf. He should have got the wheel to turn to cure him of his
laziness. Bernard Cunningham, for assault, got thirty days."
— Glasgoiv Examiner, July SQth, 1853.

I will resume the subject in my next, and am, mean-
time, dear Major,

Your friend, &c,
To Maj. Joseph Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

170

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

LETTER XVIII.

SOCIAL PROFLIGACY — THE LATE LORD TORT ARLINGTON AND
MRS. DAWSON — MORMONISM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM — THE
AGAPEMONE, OR ABODE OF LOVE.

London, September 29th, 1853.

Dear Major: — It would seem from the following,
that social immorality is not confined to the lower classes
of the people in this country. It is the report of an in-
vestigation had before one of the Aldermen of London. I
leave the case to speak for itself : —

"THE LATE LORD PORTARLINGTON AND MRS. DAWSON — CHARGE
OF PERJURY.

At the Guildhall police office, on Tuesday, Mrs. Dawson,
alias Phoebe Blakeney, residing near Maida-hill, appeared for
re-examination before Sir Peter Laurie, on a charge of having
committed wilful perjury under the following singular circum-
stances. The charge was that in the year 1833 the prisoner
swore, in the Prerogative Court, to documents purporting to
show that Mrs. Elam, widow, died intestate in September, 1833,
and that the prisoner was her only daughter and next of kin,
and thereby she obtained about .£5000, there being a Miss
Georgina Elam, a daughter of Mrs. Elam, in existence. The
registry of Mrs. Elam '8 burial at Kensall Green stated Mrs.
Elam's age to be 48, whereas the prisoner had nearly reached'
that age when Mrs. Elam died, and therefore the prisoner could
not have been Mrs. Elam's daughter. Miss Georgina Elam
(the prosecutrix) deposed that she first discovered that her
name was Elam, and not Dawson, on a legacy being left to
her in 1845 by Lord Portarlington, in the name of Elam. A
clerk in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury produced an
administration bond dated Oct. 12, 1833, and signed 1 Phcebe
Blakeney,' and also the administration act book, stating that

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

171

on Oct. 15, 1833, administration of the effects of Eliza Elam,
late of Curzon street, May Fair, widow, deceased, was granted
to Phoebe Blakeney, spinster, ' dauo-bter andVuly child of the
^rtecVasexK'* .;riie~Y?h)r7er"t^ was s^orfc \o under* £5000, and re-
sworn in 1835 at under £4000. Miss Elam proved the priso-
.ner'i -tsi^nature ,to. the jjond.. Dr.jCurteiss,-. surrogate, also
proved the administratioii by Th^be^Blakeney^and the oaths
taken on the occasion. Certificated were put in of the burials
of Mr. and MrfifElafa, und also of the baptism" of *&eorghia
Elam, who was born Jan. 26, 1828. Mr. Ballantine, for the
prisoner, said he was instructed to admit that the administra-
tion had been taken, and the oaths sworn by his client, and that
he could prove his client to be, as she had sworn, the only
natural and lawful daughter and next o'f kin of Mrs. Elam, de-
ceased. He should produce a certificate of marriage between
Robert Blakeney and Eliza Wood (afterwards Mrs. Elam) in
1798, and the prisoner was her child by that marriage, and
thus the prosecutor, Georgina Elam, was not the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Elam, for at the time of her birth Mrs. Elam had
been long separated from her husbaud, and was living as mis-
tress to Lord Portarlington, Mrs. Elam being then 54 and his
lordship 62 years of age. She then palmed the girl off on
Lord Portarlington as his child by her, and, under this impres-
sion, Lord Portarlington left the girl a legacy. He would
prove that neither Mr. Elam nor Lord Portarlington was the
girl's father, but that she was purchased from a peasant by
Mrs. Elam, to be passed off on Lord Portarlington as his. He
would produce the person who purchased the child, and Mrs.
Elani's own letters admitting that the child was not hers, but
merely passed off as such on Lord Portarlington.

Sir Peter Laurie asked was there any such person as Mr.
Dawson, or why was the prisoner called by that name ?

Mr. Ballantine : My client took Lord Portarlington's family
name of Dawson, because she lived with him as his mistress.

Mr. Huddlestone : Do you mean that Lord Portarlington
-lived with both mother and daughter ?

Mr. Ballantine : Shocking as it may appear, Lord Portar-
lington lived first with the mother, then with the daughter, and
afterwards with the mother again.

Sir P. Laurie : J)oes the present Lord Portarlington know
of this extraordinary case ? I hope that out of regard to his
uncle's character, he will send some solicitor to watch it on his
account.

172

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ; OR,

Mr. Ballantine said that whatever annoyance it might cause
to the family, the vindication of his client required the proof
to be given that the prosecutrix was not Mr. Elam's daughter.

Mr. Palmer, the prisoner's solicitor, said that he was sure
the case was put forward by parties whom he well knew, and
that the prosecutrix had no knowledge of this attempt to extort
money.

The case was then remanded.

On Saturday, the further hearing was renewed. Sir Peter
Laurie intimated that on the last examination he threw out a
hint that as the late Lord Portarlington was mixed up in this
affair in a very peculiar way, it would be advisable for the pre-
sent lord, if he had any respect for the memory of his uncle, to
instruct some respectable attorney to watch the case, and, for
the honor of the family, protect the reputation of his lordship.
He (Sir Peter) therefore wished to know if any person was
present on Lord Portarlington's behalf? No person respond-
ing to this inquiry, the case was proceeded with, and Miss
Georgina Elam was called, and cross-examined at considerable
length, with a view to elicit circumstances injurious to her
character, and that might tend to weaken her evidence. The
object, however, entirely failed.

Mrs. Mary Ann Robinson was next examined, and stated
that she kept a young ladies' school at Ealing, and, in 1833,
Mrs. Dawson having placed lier own daughters with her, in-
troduced Mrs. Elam, who brought Miss Elam, then a child live
years old. Mrs. Dawson said Mrs. Elam was her mother ; but
witness very much doubted it. .Miss Elam was under her care
for six months in 1833, and Mrs. Elam took ' her child,' as she
called her, away, and paid the half-year's bill. Subsequently
witness heard Mrs. Elam speaking of Miss Elam in Mrs. Daw-
son's presence as 'her darling child, her own dear child.'1
About one month after the midsummer holidays, Lord Port-
arlington, Col. Darner, and Mrs. Dawson called and informed
witness of Mrs. Elam's death. Miss Elam shortly after re-
turned for a few weeks, and called Mrs. Dawson ' Mamma,'
and Mrs. Dawson directed that the child should be called
4 Georgina Dawson,' which name she went by ever since. Mrs.
Dawson was equally kind to Miss Elam as to her own daugh-
ters. At Christmas the children were taken borne, but were
brought back on the same evening by Lord Portarlington, as
Mrs. Dawson was then in her confinement with her youngest
daughter. Mrs. Dawson had told witness she was within a
15*

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

173

year or two of her age, which was not 65, and she believed
Mrs. Elam was not more than a year or two older than herself.

Sir Peter Laurie said it had been alleged that Lord Port-
arliugton lived with mother and daughter, and that the child
was purchased by the former, and palmed off as his lordship's,
but no evidence had yet been offered with regard to that cir-
cumstance.

Mr. Ballantine said he had a witness present to prove that.

Mr. Iluddlestone said he had not yet completed his case,
and for that pur^se he was about to apply for a crowual sub-
poena to ensure the attendance of Colonel Close, who was a
witness to the marriage of Lieut, and Mrs. Elam, and positively
declined to appear in the matter unless compelled.

Sir Peter Laurie expressed a determination to hear all the
evidence he could arrive at on this occasion, whether it was for
the prosecution or defence.

Mrs. Eliza Simpson, called for the defence, said she married
Mrs. Elam's nephew, who was brought up by the former, with
Mrs. Dawson. In 1827, Mrs. Elam was 4iving in Mrs. Daw-
son's house in Park street, Grosvenor square, and they were
both introduced to witness and her husband as mother and
daughter. She had heard Mrs. Elam call Mrs. Dawson ' her
beautiful, her darling child." At that time'she thought Mrs.
Elam to be about fifty-five years of age, and Mrs. Dawson not
more than twenty-five. She had seen Mrs. Elam undressed
several times, and could swear she was not in the family way
then ; indeed, she believed such to have been impossible. Mrs.
Dawson and Mrs. Elam were both most beautiful women, and
• the former lived with Lord Portarlington, while the latter only
intrigued with him. She believed she first saw Mrs. Elam in
Curzon street — but (recollecting herself ) she thought it was in
Half Moon street, and was in 1832. Mrs. Elam told witness
that she purchased the child to impose upon a nobleman as his
child. She afterwards said it was Lord Portarlington. Mrs.
Dawson knew nothing of the child uiitil Mrs. Elam's death, as
it was always sent out of the way, and locked in a bed-room
when she called. The intriguing between Lord Portarlington
and Mrs. Elam was carried on in Mrs. Dawson's house at the
time the former was living with her (Mrs. Dawson). Mrs.
Elam looked much younger than she really was, and endea-
vored to make herself appear still younger. She did not
actually know that Mrs. Elam intrigued with Lord Portarling-
ton, but she suspected it. She never mentioned the purchase
15*

174 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

of the child to Lord Portarlington, or her particular friend,
Mrs. Dawson, but allowed the imposition to go on until after
the death of Mrs. Elam, when she advised Mrs. Dawson to
advertise and offer a sum of money for the parents of the child.
Mrs. Dawson refused, as it would deprive the child of many
comforts it then enjoyed. Mrs. Robinson here stated that a
woman, refusing her name and address, had called upon her
since the last examination, and tried to intimidate her, and
prevent her appearing against Mrs. Dawson.

Mr. Palmer, of the firm of Palmer and N#ettleship, the soli-
citors to the late Lord Portarlington, said that during a con-
versation with him (the Hon. Lionel Dawson), his lordship's
younger brother remarked, in allusion to the intercourse be-
tween Lord Portarlington and Mrs. Elam, that 'his brother
was fool enough to believe he had had a child'by her, and that
he had the clearest proofs of it.' He had also been informed
by a Mr. Francis Harvey, who knew Mrs. Dawson from a
child, that Miss Elam was palmed off upon his lordship as his,
when, in fact, it had been bought of a peasant for a particular
purpose.

Mr. Huddlestoue objected to the evidence being taken in
such a loose manner, and wished it to be understood by the
alderman, that in allowing Mr. Palmer to state anything he
liked, without regard to the law of evidence, was altogether
illegal.

^ Sir Peter Laurie said he would not be bound by the rules
of law in any case ; he would allow every witness to tell his
tale in his own peculiar way, and take the responsibility upon
himself, for he was convinced that more was proved by such a
course than by a cross-examination, which only bothered the
witness.

Mr. Huddlestoue said it did not always follow that proof
was evidence.

Sir Peter Laurie said it did not signify to him ; he would
pursue the course that he thought would most readily elicit
the truth.

Mr, Palmer continued, and stated he could only account for
the age of Mrs. Elam being entered on the burial certificate as
forty-eight years, by the fact that it was some extraordinary
whim of Lord Portarlington, who had the sole direction of
Mrs. Elam's burial. At his lordship's request, he afterwards
acted for Mrs. Dawson, in taking out letters of administration
to Mrs. Elam's property, sworn at under £5000, and Mr. Francis

BILLY 13 LTCK S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

Harvey became co-security with him for that amount in the
administration bond, he having: previously satisfied himself
that A[rs. Dawson was the daughter of Mrs. Elam.

Sir Peter Laurie said the case had taken a very different
turn to what he expected, but it was his intention to remand
it, to afford Mr. Huddlestone an opportunity to complete the
case for the prosecution.

Mrs. Dawson was then allowed to depart without renewing
her recognizances, on Mr. Palmer pledging himself that she
should be forthcoming at the next examination.'' — Observer,
Nov. 2ith, 1851.

After what we have now seen of morals and habits in
this country, we can understand, how it is that its people
take to Mormonism with such facility. It was only a
short time since I saw an article in an English newspaper
embodying a fling at our country because of this impos-
ture existing within our territories, and declaring that
nowhere else but in a state of society like ours could such
a system have its origin, or be tolerated. I strongly felt
the injustice of this remark, knowing, as I did, that Mor-
monism, on account of its degrading vices, had always
met with the most decided hostility from the people of our
country, had been driven by them from place to place,
until it had been finally forced beyond the confines of civi^
lization, and into the fastnesses and deserts of the Rocky
Mountains ; and would probably long since have shrunk
into insignificance, but for the aid and comfort which it
has received from foreign nations, and especially from
England, Scotland, and Wales. During all the time to
which I have referred, a steady supply of converts coming
from among the people of this kingdom, has recruited the
ranks of this sect, and afforded a body of emigrants who
brought with them money and means, and thus assisted
to sustain and build up this "Zion" of imposture. You
have evidence of this in the following extract :

"THE MORMONS.

A small but continuous stream of Mormon emigrants has
since 1840 continuously flocked from the north of England,
from Wales, and Scotland, to join the Latter Day Saints estab-

176

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ; OR,

lished at Kirtland, in Ohio, in Jackson county, in the state of
Missouri, also on the river Missouri, at Nauvoo, on the Mis-
sissippi ; and finally on the Great Salt Lake, in the Rocky
Mountains, near the eastern boundary of California.

Originally a gross and clumsy imposition, and which notwith-
standing its success, must be characterized as a bungling swin-
dle introduced by a person of bad character, the Mormonite
movement has nevertheless become an important popular fea-
ture in the United States ; and, after suffering many reverses,
has achieved high temporal and industrial prosperity. Most
people believed the Mormons to be a handful of miserable
fanatics, who wandered into the far west beyond the bounds
of civilization, on which they are a blot.

In 1831 there were but five Mormons in the world, including
Joseph Smith, the founder of the faith. Pour of these were
his father and brothers. In twenty years they increased to
upwards of 300,000 persons, of which a large number are now
settled as an independent state, with a regular charter, organ-
ized local government, and not only the sovereignty, but the
fee simple of a fertile tract as large as England, situated on
the best trail from Eastern America to California and the
Pacific. The state is called Deseret or Utah, and will proba-
bly soon be added to the group of the American Union. Salt
Lake City, which sprung up like magic in the wilderness, is its
capital, a large and flourishing town. They have agencies and
missions in every capital in Europe, and in every large town
of the United Kingdom. Their object is to ' gather the saints'
to Deseret. Since 1848, upward of 14,000 persons have in-
clined to the doctrines of Mormon, and have gone forth to join
the settlement. The Mormon emigration, in 1849, passing
through Liverpool, amounted to 2500 persons, all of the better
class of emigrants ; and it is calculated that 30,000 Latter-day
Saints then remained behind. In June, 1850, there were in
England and Scotland, 27,863 Mormonites, of whom London
contributed 2529; Manchester, 2787; Liverpool, 1018; Glas-
gow, 184G; Sheffield, 1920; Edinburgh, 1331; Birmingham,
1909; and Wales, South Wales principally, 4342. And the
Mormonite census was taken in last January, giving in the
entire number in the British Isles as 30,747 'Saints.' During
the last fourteen years more than 50,000 had been baptized in
England, of which nearly 17,000 had emigrated from her
shores 'to Zion.' We have said that Mormon emigration is
of the better class ; but there are poor Mormons as well ; and

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

177

for behoof of these, and in order that they may, as well as their
more prosperous brethren, be ' gathered to Zion,' there is now
amassed in Liverpool more than three and a half tons of Oali-
fornian irold belonging to the sect, and destined for the pur-
poses of emigration. Thus, then, in twenty years, the sect of
five poor men has become a compacted body of 300,000 indi-
viduals, bound together by religious, social, and industrial ties,
firm in their faith, as well as in its propagation, and professing
a creed which, whatever may be its monstrosities, seems at all
events to have in it nothing adverse to the wordly prosperity
of its members." — Observer, August ISlh, 1851.

If any fact serves more than these to show the profli-
gacy of the masses, from whomis derived this perennial
stream of polygamists, it is thWxistence among them of
such a delectable institution as that which is referred to
in the following extract, which is taken from the Observer
newspaper of May 10th, 1852, and. copied from the Bristol
Gazette :

" THE AGAPEMOXE, XEAR BRIDGWATER.

Some curious stories are current respecting this place. It
is said that Mr. Prince, the founder, on a recent occasion drove
up to the Castle Inn, at Taunton, in the carriage and four
which belonged to the late Queen Adelaide, and which he has
purchased for his own private use. A servant at the door of
the inn warned off some idlers standing in the way, with the
words, 1 Take care, here's Mr. Prince coming.' He overheard
the expression ; and, on alighting from the carriage, said to
the servant, in a solemn tone, ' Mr. Prince once — Jesus Christ
now.' After uttering this blasphemy, he entered the inn, corf-,
sumed a cigar and a bottle of wine, and returned to the Abode
of Love. Among other strange regulations observed in the
institution is the election of 1 Mrs. Prince,' or 'The Bride.'
This is a distinction which every week falls to the lot of one
out of fifteen women, who, with their husbands, are members
of the sect. A large stage is erected, on which are placed a
number of seats according with the number of candidates for
the espousal. This stage revolves round a chair, in which Mr.
Prince seats himself. At a given signal the husbands of the
women enter, and each, stationing himself at the back of his
better half, begins to force the stage round. This is continued
until it has attained a pretty good speed, when, at a sign from

178 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Mr. Prince, the husbands retire, and the stage is left to itself;
when it stops, the woman opposite to Mr. Prince becomes the
' Bride' for a week, at the end of which time the ceremony is
repeated. On one occasion, Mr. Prince happened to catch a
' Bride' as she was being kissed by her husband. As a punish-
ment for this unfaithfulness, she was divorced from her hea-
venly consort and put to menial labor, and the husband was
sentenced to wheel a barrow full of stones up and down the
yard for three days." — Bristol Gazette.

It is time that I had brought this letter to a conclusion.
I therefore at once subscribe myself,
Respectfully,

^ Yr. friend and cousin,
To Maj. Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTER XIX.

JUVENILE DEPRAVITY IN THIS COUNTRY — MURDER BY A BOY
OF THIRTEEN OF ANOTHER ELEVEN YEARS AND A HALF

OLD CHARGE OF SWINDLING AGAINST A LITTLE GIRL,

THIRTEEN YEARS OF AGE SINGULAR DELINQUENCY OF A

BOY — CHARGE OF STEALING AGAINST A BOY AGED TEN, AN
OLD OFFENDER — A YOUTHFUL AND ARISTOCRATIC HIGHWAY-
MAN A CANDIDATE FOR TRANSPORTATION, AGED FOUR-
TEEN MURDER BY A BOY LESS THAN TEN YEARS OLD

A YOUTH LEFT FOR EXECUTION.

London, October 1st, 1853.

Dear Major : — The moral character of a people dis-
tinctly declares itself in their children. Offspring that
are the object of tender solicitude on the part of refined
or educated Christian parents, from their earliest years
will exhibit more or less of that loveliness which appeared
in those of whom it was sweetly spoken, " Of such is the
kingdom of heaven." But children who are born and
bred in infamy and ignorance, very soon grow to be but

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

170

imps of the social hell in which they have their habita-
tion. Wide-spread juvenile depravity, therefore, may be
regarded as indicating extensive social profligacy.

That such juvenile depravity abounds in this kingdom,
and to an extent which is as surprising as it is painful to
the citizen of more favored moral regions, cannot be de-
nied. It is shown by figures about which there is and
can be no doubt, and it is to be inferred from the many
extraordinary instances which are met with on every
hand.

In the same work alreaady quoted by me, — " Cham-
bers's Encyclopedia," — I find that, in the year 1838, there
were, in every 100 offenders, Ijffis juvenile delinquents
under twelve years of age, and in every 100 offenders
there were 9/^ (nearly ten) between the ages of twelve
and sixteen, and 29yo3o between the ages of seventeen and
twenty-one — more than ten in a hundred of these
offences, therefore, having been committed by children
less than sixteen years old, and more than forty (almost
one-half) in every hundred having been committed by
persons less than twenty-one. In the " British Almanac "
for 1845, I find that, in the year 1843, there were, in
every 100 offenders in England and Wales, 5TJo under
fifteen, and 22TJTy between fifteen and twenty. From the
table which I sent you in my letter of August 1st, last,
and taken from the " British Almanac " of the present
year, you will find that, in every 100 offenders in Scot-
land in the year 1851, there were 1275o°o, or just one in
eight, less than sixteen years old.

Now if, with all this, you will compare the report of
the principal keeper of the Georgia Penitentiary, a copy
of which you have kindly sent me (and for which I thank
you), you will see that in our State there are, in every 100
offenders, only 19T2o°o who are between the ages of fifteen
and twenty-one; 13T4o°o of whom are between eighteen
and twenty-one, 5T8o°0 only under eighteen, and none
under fifteen. What a striking contrast is thus pre-
sented ! In England and Wales, one in about every ten
of all offenders is less than sixteen years old, in Scotland
one in eight is less than sixteen, in Georgia none less than
fifteen.*

* See Appendix, A, \\ 16, 27, 28, 29. Also, App., B, \\ 5, 8.

180

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Let us come down somewhat more to particulars. By
the " British Almanac," it appears that there were in
Parkhurst prison, on the first day of January, 1851, 516
boys. During the year, 270 others were received. Of
these, three died, one was pardoned, and one removed to
Millbank prison; seventy-seven were sent to Van Die-
man's Land, fifty-nine to Western Australia, sixty-three
to Portland prison, and twenty-four to the Hulks — total,
228; leaving 556 on January 1st, 1852. The expendi-
tures for the year were £10,952, the amount of earnings
£1441, and the average annual expense of each prisoner
was £16 8s.

Here, then, you will perceive, in one prison,: — a large
one, it is true, and probably a general receptacle for such
offenders, — are nearly 800 juvenile criminals; out of
whom, in the whole year, one only is found worthy of
pardon. They are confined at an annual expense of more
than $50,000.

If you ask me what sort of crimes are committed by
these juvenile delinquents, I must answer, not mere vio-
lations of good order, or, at the worst, petty thefts, as
you would suppose, from your knowledge of children in
our part of the world ; but crimes of all grades of enor-
mity, from murder to simple swindling. You can best
judge of this by a few examples which I will send you.

The fir'st is a case which occurred in the spring of
1851 :

" MURDER BY A BOY OP THIRTEEN, OF ANOTHER BOY ELEVEN
YEARS AND A HALF OLD.

Lynn, Norfolk, April 13. — The dreadful tragedy which
occurred at Castle Rising, four miles from Lynn, on Sunday
last, has been followed by intelligence of another murder on
the previous day at Outvvell, a village ten miles from Lynn,
ami midway between Wisbeach and Downham Market. It
appears that on Saturday last three boys were in a field near
the village, where they were employed in 'crow-scaring,' the
eldest boy having a gun in his possession, to fire occasionally,
in order to frighten the birds from the seed-wheat. This boy,
whilst conversing with his two companions respecting some-
thing which he had told them on the preceding day, said, 'If

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

181

he knew they mentioned it to any one he would kill them.'
The youngest boy, frightened at this, replied in a tearful mood,
' What shall J do,- then ? I told my mother last night.' On
this the eldest boy reared his gun to the child's forehead, pulled
the trigger, and by the explosion, shattered his skull, spread-
ing his brains over the field. The gun, it is said, contained no
shot, but the wadding passed completely through the child's
head. Frightened at the act which he had committed, the
murderer prevailed upon his surviving companion to promise
secrecy, and to assist him to dispose of the dead body, which
was done by dragging it to a dry ditch,' where it was carefully
buried. The two boys then returned to the spot where their
companion had been shot, and gathering.up his brains, and the
shattered fragments of his skull-bone, they threw them into his
cap. After this they kindled a fire of turf (the field being in
the furze), upon which they placed the cap, which they watched,
with its contents, until it was entirely consumed. Upon their
return home, inquiry arose concerning the murdered child,
when the companion of the murderer confessed to the par-
ticulars above narrated, and was with the murderer himself
taken into custody.

The body was found as above described." — Observer, April
10ft, 1851.

The next is a case of swindling by the little daughter
of a retired officer in the British army. You will find it
an instance of expertness in crime, and indifference to its
results, truly wonderful, in a girl less than 13 years old.

" CHARGE OF SWINDLING AGAINST A CHILD.

Ellen Marian Watson, an interesting looking girl, aged thir-
teen, daughter of a retired officer in the army, residing with
her parents at No. 3 James street, Commercial-road, Camber-
well, was charged before Mr. Elliott, with obtaining, on false
pretences, property of considerable value from Miss Anne
Halt, fancy stationer and Berlin wool dealer. Anne Hatt, of
Church street, Camberwell, deposed, that on Friday week, the
prisoner purchased a shilling's worth of Berlin wool, and on
the following Monday repeated her visit and selected sixpence
worth. She then entered into conversation with witness,
stated that she was on intimate terms with the Rev. Daniel
Moore, clergyman of the parish, and that she was working
16

182

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

something as a present for hiun ; and that her name was John-
ston, and that she lived with her parents at the Grove. During
the conversation, she selected three patterns for sofa pillows
to take to her mamma to choose one. Witness believing her
to be connected with Mr. Moore, allowed her to take the
articles, but requested them to be returned the next day. The
prisoner said that as her papa did not dine until six o'clock,
it would be inconvenient to return them until the day follow-
ing. She then left the shop and did not return until Thursday,
when she came with two of the patterns, and apologized for
not sending them back on the appointed day. The fact was,
her mamma had gone on Wednesday to dine with a colonel
and his lady in Berkeley square, and the footman was ordered
to bring them, but had forgotten his orders. She^requested
the wool for the pattern, chosen by her mamma, tonbe packed
up, and said she could not pay for it then, as she had not
known how much it would come to, but her mamma would pay
for it all at one time. She then selected a hymn book, and
said she would like to have a church service. Witness thought
it strange for her to purchase such things without some one
being with her, but packed them up, and then sent a servant
after her to see where she went to, that she (witness) might
call on her parents for some explanation. The servant returned
and said, ' Oh, miss, I think the young lady has deceived you.
She entered a small cottage near the vestry hall, and remained
there.' Witness did not think much of that, she seemed so
respectable, and supposed she called there through motives of
charity. On Friday evening the prisoner called again, selected
a writing desk and two books, which she took with her, saying
that her mamma wished to see them. On Saturday last she
brought back a Bible, saying that her mamma did not want it;
and she was to select something in its stead. Witness then
suspected her, but allowed her to select them. Whilst they
were being tied up, witness dressed herself, and after the
prisoner quitted the shop, she followed. After walking a little
way the prisoner tore up something, apparently the invoice,
and then unfastened the parcel and threw away the paper.
Finding that she did not go to the Grove, witness stopped her,
and asked what she was going to do with the property. The
prisoner was much confused, and said all was right ; that she
could refer to Mr. Moore, Mr. Lackington, and Mr. Jenner.
Witness asked where she lived, and wished her to go home.
She refused to tell, or to go home, and witness took her down
by the vestry hall, when she refused to go further. On this

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

183

witness took her to the Rev. Mr. Moore's, who said he had no
knowledge of her. He took her into a private room, and ascer-
tained where her parents lived. Witness then took her back
to the shop, and gave her in charge to a constable. She had
been so artless in her behavior that witness had been quite de-
ceived, and had believed her story that she was the daughter
of Mr. Johnston, who had resided at the Grove for many years.
The whole of the property was recovered. A portion was
found at her parents' residence, the remainder at Mr. Taylor's,
where she had left it. — Sergeant James Head, P. said, that
when he was called into Miss Hatt's shop, the prisoner asked,
was he Mr. Robinson or Sergeant Quinnear ? He asked the
reason of the question, and she replied that her father's house
in Wells afreet had been robbed lately, and those officers went
there. He said, are not you Captain Johnston's daughter ?
She answered, ' No ; I'm Captain Watson's daughter, of 3
James street, Commercial-road.' — Mr. Elliott asked were her
parents in court? — The mother, a respectable looking lady,
stepped forward, seemingly much afflicted. She said that the
girl had told her that the Rev. Mr. Moore had presented the
things to her. She told the prisoner that she should work a
pair of slippers for him in return for so handsome a present.
She thought that the girl was so infatuated with Mr. Moore,
that she (witness) had set her down as an idol of Mr. Moore's
family. She was but thirteen, and was well educated. When-
ever she went out, she said she was going with Mr. Moore's
children. She brought home other things, saying that they
were presents from the same gentleman, and witness made her
write a letter of thanks to him for his kindness. She believed
that was the letter which Miss Hatt saw her tear up. She
thought it was monomania. — The prisoner, during the exami-
nation, stood firm as a statue, and apparently indifferent. —
The mother said she had been very eccentric for some time
past, and constantly talked of Mr. Moore. She actually in-
duced her father and mother to leave an Independent place of
worship, to enter Mr. Moore's church. In reply to questions
from Mr. Elliott, who said that he had some recollection of
her at this court, witness said that three months ago she acted
in a similar way to a neighbor, but witness paid for the things,
and she was not taken into custody. — Mr. Elliott : Is her father
as weak as she ? He ought to have corrected her, aud pre-
vented her from committing herself again. — Witness: The
article she obtained then was only a smelling-bottle. — Mr.
Elliott : I remember something about her. A medical gen-

18-1

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR?

tleman complained that she obtained goods from him on false
pretences. — Prisoner (laughing): It was not me, sir; mine
was all settled. — Mr. Elliott : I am not at all satisfied in this
case. Gross neglect appears on the parents' side, and I shall
remand the prisoner for further inquiries. — Remanded." —
Observer, November 11th, 1851.

It might be predicted, perhaps, of this young girl, that
she would in time come to be a very appropriate bride for
the thief in petto whom we find figuring in the following
police report, were it not, that as her villanies were partly
in the literary line, and as we have it certified that she
was "well educated," she would probably turn her nose
up at the author of such a letter as you will fina below :

"SINGULAR DELINQUENCY OF A BOY.

At the Thames police court, on Tuesday, Edward Ludditt,
a lad about seventeen years old, was charged before Mr. Yard-
ley with embezzling various sums of money he had received
for and on account of Mr. Dean, manufacturing druggist, of
Sidney street, Commercial-road East. On Monday night pri-
soner saw Sergeant Manners, K 36, in Arbor street, Stepney,
and said he had been guilty of embezzlement and wished to
give himself up to justice. He gave the name and address
of his late master, and the particulars of his offence, which the
sergeant found was correct, and he was detained on the charge.
Mr. Dean said the prisoner had been between three and four
years in his service, and absconded on Saturday fortnight with
£3 Is., which his mistress gave him to pay a bill, and that
since then he had discovered other defalcations. But the worst
of all was, that the prisoner had taken away a reference-book
of the tradesmen he dealt with, and which would occasion a
loss to him of £100. He asked the boy what he had done
with it, and he replied he had burnt it. He was now only
prepared with one case. The prisoner had been directed to
purchase a large quantity of phials, and had obtained the
money for them, which he had not paid, although he had
actually got a receipt for the money from the person who sold
the phials. Mr. James Harper said the prisoner called on him
and asked for the receipt produced, and promised to return
with the money, which he did not do. He signed the receipt
at the prisoner's request. Mr. Dean said a few days after he

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

185

absconded he received the following letter from him, posted at
Windsor : —

' Suttoniver 13 Nov. 1851 Sir i dont think that prosecution
will not be of any avail upon me for i dont care for the Devil
Himself Money Will Be far preferable to punishment when i
say punishment i dont think it so because they you a Belly full
of wittles and find you in Bed of some sort to lay upon and
if sposed that it would come to a few years transportation
what of That i should have the pleasure of seeing a fo reign e
country and another thing i got to tell You when a man is
sent out the country he is called a Convict But he is a man for
all that and is as much in Gods eye as the Best man their is
on the face of the earth so remember, this how i am able to
send you your money what i Hav robbed you of read the lists
of acts of dishonesty by me to you.' [Here followed a list
of the various sums the prisoner had embezzled, and the names
of the parties of whom he had received it, and it concluded
as follows:] — 'This money I have robbed you of you will
receive every month for I am thank God able to do it now.
You will in about a fortnight have £1 10s. ; so no more at
present from your high born and spirity thief. E. Luddilt. '

Mr, Yardley said the letter was the most extraordinary one
ever penned by a boy, and asked if it was in the prisoner's
own handwriting ? The prosecutor : I am sure of it, sir. I
know his handwriting well. The prisoner was remanded for a
week." — Observer, November 24th, 1851.

You may deem the boy mentioned above of sufficient
age to have fallen in with evil companions, and thus have
acquired such early habits of wickedness. But the follow-
ing cases will convince you, I think, that this juvenile
delinquency may be said to be imbibed with the mother's
milk among some English children :

"JUVENILE DEPRAVITY.

At Lambeth, on Thursday, Edward White, aged ten, was
charged before Mr. Xorton with stealing a penny biscuit from
a little girl in the public street, The prisoner's mother, who
appeared deeply grieved, said that for three years he had been
a confirmed thief. She and her husband had hi vain endea-
vored to reclaim him, and the boy himself said that his wish
to thieve was so strong that he could not resist it. When
punished, and even tied up for weeks together, he said it was

16*

186

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

of no use, and that he was a regular Jack Shepherd, and should
pursue the same course. He had been frequently in custody
before, but was let off, owing to his youth and his mother's in-
terference, and he had been brought home at all hours for being
found in different premises, and he had stolen everything he
could lay hands upon at his mother's place. Mr. Norton :
Well, prisoner, what have you to say to this ? The prisoner
(coolly) : I wish I could leave it off, but I can't. Mr. Norton :
Indeed ; and so you will be a Jack Shepherd ? Prisoner : Yes,
sir. Mr. Norton : I must try to cure you, and shall begin by
seeing what ten days' solitary imprisonment and a sound whip-
ping will do. The boy went away quite unconcerned." — Ob-
server, April 12th, 1852.

" A YOUTHFUL AND ARISTOCRATIC HIGHWAYMAN.

A most alarming case of highway robbery took place at
Penrith, in Cumberland, on the afternoon of the 23d inst. The
facts were as follows : — Mrs. Williams, the wife of the Rev.
Mr. Williams, of Dacre Vicarage, was returning from Penrith
in a gig with a female servant, where she had been on a visit
to the Countess Oassinski, when she was overtaken by a youth
uf gentlemanly appearance, mounted on a valuable pony. He
rode past her vehicle, and kept in front till he got to a lonely
part of the road, shaded by trees, between Dalmain and Dacre.
lie then turned round, met Mrs. Williams, and presented a
pistol, at the same time demanding her money. Mrs. Williams
at first refused to give it to him, when her assailant said he
would count three, and, if she did not deliver her money before
he had finished, he would shoot her. Terrified by his threats
she surrendered her purse, which contained a considerable sum
in gold and silver. Having made an ineffectual attempt to
obtain money from the servant, he asked Mrs. Williams her
name and residence, and the lady having told him, ' Well,' said
the highwayman, 1 I'll see if you are Mrs. Williams. I'll follow
you ; and, mind, if you have told me a lie, I'll shoot you from
behind, both you and your servant ; and if yDu speak to any
one on the way as to what has happened, 111 shoot you.' Mrs.
Williams then drove on, the highwayman riding behind as foot-
man. She met several persons, but did not speak to them, being
afraid that her unwelcome attendant would make good his
threat. After following her for some distance, her pursuer
turned his portey and rode away.

Mr. Scott, the high constable, on hearing of the circumstances,
went in quest of the highwayman, and found that he had gone

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

187

to the Castle Inn, at four o'clock on the day of the robbery,
and had his horse fed. He then went ont and returned at seven
in the evening, and requested to stay all night ; but the land-
lord, Mr. Kobertshaw, sent him to the Fish Inn, where lie
stayed all night. Next day he told Mrs. Hodgson, of the Fish

Inn, that he was son of the Hon. Mr, C , that he was low

of funds, and if he could get to Keswick and see Mr. Strange
he would be able to procure a supply. He asked Mrs. Hodg-
son to lend hiin 30s., which she did. He then left by express
train for Kendal, saying he would go by coach to Keswick from
Kendal. Mr. Scott went to Keswick and waited there, but the
highwayman did not appear. Subsequently it appeared that a
young man came by the express train from London to Carlisle
two days before the robbery, and put up at the Bush Hotel, and
asked for a hack horse to go to Mr. Howard's, Corby Castle.
Mr. Birch sent him to Mr. Brockbank, of Carlisle, who furnished
the pony, with which he committed the robbery, and which he
left at the Fish. As he did not return, Messrs. Birch and Brock-
bank concluded that they were ' done,' and Birch opened the
portmanteau left at the Bush. The marks on the linen verified

his statement that he was the son of the Hon. Mr. C -, and

it appears from subsequent inquiry that he has broken loose
from the Military School, where he was in training for the
army. He has been trying his hand at a profession of his own
choosing. He has not been heard of since he left Penrith."
— Observer, November 1st, 1852.

" MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.

Monday. — Before Mr. Serjeant Adams.

A Candidate for Transportation. — John Morris, fourteen,
pleaded 'guilty' of having stolen a till, and 2s. 5^d., the pro-
perty and money of John Hicks. It appeared, from the prison
returns, that the prisoner had been summarily convicted no less
than eleven times. The Assistant- Judge made some observa-
tions on the fact that the prisoner had been convicted five times
by one magistrate, Mr. Broughton, and four by another, Mr.
Long, and not once sent for trial. He did not, in the least,
intend to cast blame on the magistrates, or to say that they
had not done right, but at the police courts they might not
have the means they had at the Sessions of identifying the pri-
soners, and the young thief knew that, by pleading guilty, he
would be sentenced by the magistrate to three months' impri-
sonment, and in that way escape the punishment that court

183

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

could award when previous convictions were within its cogni-
zance. In this case he had not the power to sentence the pri-
soner to transportation. The prisoner — ' I want to be trans-
ported.' The Assistant- Judge — ' I dare say you do ; but I am
sorry to say you cannot be gratified at present.' Prisoner —
' Oh very well, I shall go on the same game again when I'm
out, till I do get transported, though.' The Assistant- Judge
— 'Well, I promise you that the next time you come here you
shall be transported, if guilty. Now, mind that.' He then
sentenced the prisoner to nine months' hard labor." — Weekly
Dispatch, November 21st, 1852.

In some of the cases thus cited, you have examples of
offenders not more than ten years old, who afford evidence
of consciences the most callous, and of characters already,
as it were, coated with the prison rust of guilt. In the
following case you have an example of cool and deliberate
murder by a boy less than ten years old !

" MURDER BY A BOY TEN YEARS OF AGE.

Considerable excitement has been created in the village of
Keynsham, near Bristol, by the apprehension of a boy under
ten years of age, named Edwin Hucker, on the serious charge
of murdering a companion of his, William Saunders, the son
of a copper worker, residing in Milk street, Bristol, by wil-
fully pushing him into the river Avon, at or near the Swinford
copper-mills, and drowning him. The accused is the son of
an operative lime-burner, residing at Longwell Green, in the
parish of Bitton. The deceased had been living with his
grandfather and grandmother, by whom, owing to the death
of his mother, he had been taken when about eleven months
old, and he was brought up at their residence, Willsbridge,
Gloucestershire. It appears that on the 26th of April last,
about nine o'uiock in the morning, the deceased left his home
for the purpose of going to school ; and, on wishing his grand-
mother good-bye, he said he should be home again at half-
past four; but she never again saw him alive. Search was
made ; and, it being supposed that he might accidentally have
fallen into a part of the river Avon, it was dragged, but, as it
subsequently appeared, not the part where he was drowned.
It seems that the accused, Hucker, and a lad named Evans,
witnessed the ooeration of dragging ; but, though they were

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

189

both cognizant of the fact, they said nothing as to where the
body was. No tidings were gleaned of the poor child for
three days, when Hucker and Evans (the son of a carpenter)
stated that he fell into the river accidentally. This statement,
made at so late a period, naturally caused some suspicion, and
this was strengthened by another statement made by Evans,
who told his relations that he was in the meadow, and saw
Hucker there, lying down on the grass, and that the little boy
Saunders came up and jumped on to his neck ; at which
Hucker got into a passion, and said he would hit his head off.
Evans further stated, that about an hour afterwards he saw
Saunders on the bank of the river picking some sorrel which
grew on its edge, and that Hucker, who was behind him,
pushed him into the river, and said, ' Hang it, he's in the
driver.' Evans likewise stated that the copper-mills were a
little way off, that there were people there, and he was running
to get some one to pull out Saunders, whom he saw struggling
for five minutes, but that Hucker would not let him do so, but,
on the contrary, held him down by his pinnafore, and said that,
if he offered to go, he would push him in also, and jump in
himself. After this, Hucker followed him nearly as far as
Stoates Hill, and told him not to say anything about it, and
he would give him something on the Friday ; which was the
reason why he did not tell where Saunders wras when he was
missed at first. This statement having become known to the
police authorities, police sergeant 1 34, of the county consta-
bulary, questioned Evans ; and finding him adhere to his state-
ment, he deemed it right to apprehend Hucker, and he was
taken before Mr. Hughes, magistrate of Downend, and re-
manded (on bail) for further examination. At this time the
body had not been recovered ; but on Wednesday last it was
found in the river, close to the hatchway of the Keynsham
mills, to which it must have been carried by the floods. The
body, on being got out, was found to be in such a state of de-
composition that recognition of either features or figure was
impossible. There were, however, some peculiarities in the
little fellow's boots, and in a little bag he had with him, by
which his grandfather was enabled positively to identify the
corpse. Information of these circumstances was conveyed to
Mr. Bruges Fry, coroner for North Somerset, and he at once
issued his warrant for the prosecution of an inquest at the
Lamb and Lark Inn, Keynsham. The accused was likewise
apprehended by the police sergeant, and was immediately
brought into the inquest-room. Both the grandfather and

190 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD j OR,

grandmother of the deceased were examined, and likewise a
girl who, on the day of the occurrence, saw the three boys
together crossing abridge and going in the direction of Swin-
ford mills. The boy Evans repeated the statement he had
before made. After a deliberation of about three-quarters of
an hour, the jury returned the following verdict : — 'That the
deceased child, Saunders, met his death by being pushed into
the water by Edwin Hucker.

The Coroner : You consider that he wilfully pushed him
into the water ?

Foreman : That is the opinion of the jury, and I believe
that amounts to a verdict of wilful murder.

A most distressing scene here ensued between the father,
mother, and child ; who, on hearing that the coroner had no
power to take bail, and that the child must be taken away from
them to prison, burst into tears, and were led away in the ut-
most distress, while a great many of the jury and spectators
were much affected. The coroner then made out the warrant
for the committal of the prisoner for trial at the next Somer-
setshire assizes." — Observer, May 20th, 1853.

From the following, which I met with in a Liverpool
paper a few weeks previous to the publication of the last
case, it appears that " stabbing cases have become alarm-
ingly frequent " not alone among the bowie-knife ruf-
fians of our frontier States, but that they so abound in
England as to make it necessary, for example's sake, that
a victim — of not more than eighteen years — who kills his
companion in a drunken brawl, should be offered upon
the altar of justice. All the circumstances of the case
seem to indicate a very depraved state of society in
Liverpool.

"A YOUTH LEFT FOR EXECUTION.

To the Editor of the Daily News :

Sir : — Will you permit me to call the attention of your
readers to a case which has just been tried at Liverpool ? A
youth named Terrell, eighteen years of age, has been tried for
stabbing a companion. There is no doubt that stabbing cases
have become alarmingly frequent, and that some measures
must be taken to repress as well as to punish them. Acting,
I presume, on this ground, the jury found the miserable boy

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

191

guilty of 'wilful murder.' Sentence was pronounced, and he
is accordingly left for execution.

On examining the evidence given on the trial, it seems to
me that this is exactly one of those cases in which an appeal
may be fairly made to the Crown for the exercise of clemency.
The youth of the prisoner could not be pleaded by itself ; but,
taken into consideration with the circumstances of the case, it
should have some weight.

There was no ill-will between the parties ; they, with many
others, — idle and disorderly enough, it is true, — were together
at a beer-house. A good deal of what such persons call
1 chaffing ' took place, and Terrell showed a pocket-knife,
which he boasted had 'done for' many, and had yet one more
to do for. After this there was some quarrelling, and it was
proposed that they should leave the house and 'fight it out.1
The evidence after this becomes very defective, and the princi-
pal witness was not in court. It appears, however, that the
deceased threatened the prisoner, and some 'sparring ' ensued,
during which Terrell stabbed the deceased with the knife,
which he seems to have had in his hand all the time. The
wound proved fatal, and the verdict of the jury is 'wilful
murder. '

Now, I do not complain of the verdict, though I think man-
slaughter would have been more strictly correct. It is ad-
mitted that the chief provocation was on the side of the pri-
soner, and that he kept his hand on the open knife in his
pocket, refusing to show his hands when required to do so.
But, sir, can it be even-handed justice to visit this wretched
boy with the same penalty as that with which the law visits a
Rush, a Green acre, or a Good ?

I have no sympathy with him, — at least no morbid sympa-
thy,— nor, indeed, with his equally disorderly and dissipated
victim. They were all, it would seem, somewhat under the
influence of drink, nor would I have said one word had the
penalty been anything short of death.

But surely this is a case in which the Home Office might be
urged to interfere — not to screen the prisoner from punishment,
but to advise a commutation. The whole affair takes much
the appearance of a drunken brawl. A foolish, boasting
youth, talks of his murderous exploits — no oue imagines that
these boasts had any foundation in fact — heated with beer and
'chaffing,' the deceased allows himself to be drawn into a
quarrel, and we see the result. Had it not been for the fre-
quency of stabbing cases, the verdict would undoubtedly have

192

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

been different. As to any malice prepense, there appears not
a shadow of evidence to support it. The penitent and terri-
fied criminal, who accused drunkenness as the cause of his fall,
and who expected to be severely punished, shrieked out with
surprise and dismay when he found that his life was to be for-
feited.

As to what is to be done with him, and such as he, that is a
problem which I have no doubt the wisdom of Parliament will
ere long solve. I should be sorry to see the churches in Liver-
pool employed as those at Exeter were a short time ago, and
the whole town called on to take part in a great religious fes-
tival, because an unhappy youth, who certainly did not intend
to murder his fellow-creature, was about to be hurried into
eternity.

I remain, sir, your obedient servant,

A Reader of Trials."

[Liverpool Mercury.

From the following extract, you may form some opinion
of these stabbing cases, which have become " so alarm-
ingly frequent."

" Three young men at Garstang quarrelled over their drink.
One professed an intention to 'do' for the others. His
threat was held to be a joke. He went out, and presently
came back, saying he had killed two of them, and gave up a
knife. His story was but too true. He had killed one and
seriously wounded the other. His name is Wilding." — The
Leader, 1853.

These cases are sufficient for the purpose which I have
in view in bringing them to your attention, and I must
pass to other matter, after concluding this letter, and as-
suring you that I am, as ever,

Very respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Georgia, U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

193

LETTER XX.

BRUTALITY AND CRUELTY OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE A HIGH

SHERIFF IN DIFFICULTY, OR A HANGMAN WANTED THE

CHELMSFORD EXECUTIONS.

London, October 15th, 1853.

Dear Major : — Another feature in .the social character
of the British people, most remarkable to me, is their
fierce brutality and cruelty. It may be said, speaking
generally, that this characteristic manifests itself in the
perpetration of awful murders and deeds of violence by
men, women, and children. But it may be said more spe-
cially that it exhibits itself most shockingly in the num-
ber of murders of women by men, of wives by husbands
(and the large proportion of both these), of husbands by
wives, of children by parents, of parents by children ; in
cruelty to, and ill-treatment of, helpless women, children,
paupers, insane persons, and prisoners, by those who
should be their protectors ; and in like cruelty on the part
of mothers to their offspring, and on the part of both men
and women to their inferiors and dependents.

These are strong allegations ; but I make them after
careful observation and reflection, and I will furnish the
proofs of all that I charge.

By consulting the " British Almanac," published in
London by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know-
ledge, and " Darton's Statistical Tables," you will find
that, for several years previous to the year 1851 (the year
at which my observations commence), the number of capi-
tal sentences passed for the crime of murder was about
twenty annually, in England and Wales ; and for attempts
to murder, not quite half that many. The number of
executions was something more than ten annually. In
the year 1849, there were fifteen executions for murder ;
in 1848 there were twelve, in 1847 there were eight, and
in another year there were thirteen ; of which three were
17 N

194

THE SLAVEHOLDEK ABROAD ) OR,

of females for the murder of their husbands, two of males
for the murder of their wives, one of a man for the mur-
der of his child, and one of a son for the murder of his
father; seven, or a majority of the thirteen, being for
offences in violation of what are elsewhere, certainly, con-
sidered natural instincts and affections.*

If you pause here to ask me, " What became of the
other convicts receiving sentence of death during these
years, it appearing that not one-half of those sentenced
were executed?" I answer, " Be patient, and you will
learn something about this before I have left the subject."

In the same publication, — the "British Almanac," — I
find that forty persons were sentenced to death in the
year 1851 for offences against the person, and twenty-
eight for offences against property, with violence to the
person. Of these, ten were executed according to this
report ; though it would appear, from an account which I
derive from another source, and send you, that the
demand for executioners that year considerably exceeded
the supply.

"A HIGH-SHERIFF IN DIFFICULTY; OR, A HANGMAN WANTED.

It will no doubt be in the recollection of many persons that
the High Sheriff of Suffolk, in March last, was placed in no
very pleasant position in consequence of the services of a hang-
man not being obtainable to carry into execution the last sen-
tence of the law upon Maria Clarke, for the murder of her
illegitimate child, by burying it alive in the parish of Wingfield.
The high-sheriff, however, on that occasion, was spared an un-
pleasant duty by a reprieve coming down for the condemned
woman two days before that on which her execution was to
have taken place. At the assizes held at Ipswich, on the 2d
inst, Maria Emily Cage was found guilty of the murder of her
husband, James Cage, at Stonham Aspel, by administering to
him a certain quantity of arsenic. Her execution was ordered
to take place on Saturday (Aug. 16), in front of the Ipswich
county Jail, but the same difficulty was again presented as in
March. Calcraft, the hangman, on being applied to, could
not attend, as he had promised to perform a similar office the
same morning at Norwich. An application was next made to

* Thut such crimes as these may be said to be entirely unknown in
Georgia, sec App., A, J|21, 22.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

195

the hangman at Warwick jail, but that functionary could not
attend, as he would be similarly engaged at Shrewsbury on
that day. A messenger was then despatched to the Secretary
of State's office, who explained the unpleasant position in
which the high-sheriff of Suffolk was placed, and requested
that the execution of Mary Emily ('age might be postponed.
The answer from the Secretary of State was to the effect that
no alteration as to the day named could be made ; thus leaving
the high-sheriff to get out of the difficulty in the best way he
could. To have had the law carried into effect on Saturday
would, in all probability, have been repugnant to the feelings
of the high-sheriff, for, as no person could be found to supply
the place of Calcraft, the high-sheriff must have performed
the horrid duty himself. To avoid doing that, the high-she-
riff has, on his own responsibility, ordered the execution to be
delayed until an early day in the ensuing week. The con-
demned woman's demeanor is becoming her awful position.
She appears to be resigned to her fate, but protests that she
is innocent. The unpleasant position of the high-sheriff, not
ouly on this but on a former occasion, may be attributed to the
usual course not being adopted — the making sure that Calcraft
can attend before any day be appointed for the execution." —
The Times, August 11th, 1851.

You must be furnished with examples of some of the
shocking murders to which I have referred ; otherwise,
the whole truth of the case cannot be realized ; for such
horrible occurrences are seldom or never heard of in our
Southern States.

I send you, first, an account of the execution of two
notorious murderers, whose offences were committed early
in the year 1850.

"THE CHELMSFORD EXECUTIONS.

On Tuesday morning Thomas Drory and Sarah Chesham
expiated their crimes, by an ignominious death, in front of the
county jail, at Springfield, near Chelmsford. The revolting
details of their crimes are too fresh in the recollection of the
public, to need more than a brief allusion to them. Drory
was convicted, on the clearest evidence, of having strangled a
poor girl, whom he had seduced, and who was far advanced in
pregnancy by him. His motives, it is difficult to conjecture,
for he had no immediate object to attain, reconcileable with
the strength of those influences which forbid men to 1 break

196

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ', OR,

into the house of life.' Her disgrace, and his share in it,
were known, and he had no secrecy to secure. His position
in life would soon have exempted him from her importunities ;
and his ordinarily mild deportment, effeminate looks, and small
person appear in strange contrast with the horrible details of
his crime. The physiognomist might in vain search his fea-
tures for indications of the cruel and relentless disposition dis-
played in the murder of Jael Denny, and those who speculate
on the motives actuating great criminals, may in vain endeavor
to explore the impulses which led to this dreadful tragedy.
Happily no doubt can be entertained of his guilt. He him-
self has set that point at rest. The visiting magistrates, com-
plying with his father's wish, promised that if a detailed state-
ment were made by him, it should not be published. It is
believed, too, that Drory himself desired to spare his family
this last humiliation, and nothing beyond a general confession
of his guilt has been committed to paper. He wrote it on
Monday night. It is clearly the composition of a very illiter-
ate person, but it betrays some traces of penitence. Official
etiquette forbids the publishing of a verbatim copy, which
would throw full light on the amount of Drory's education.
It is dated 'Springfield Jail, March 24, 1851,' and is in the
form of a petition addressed to the High Sheriff of the county
of Essex. Drory began it by alluding to ' that grievous
offence' for which he acknowledged that he was 'justly con-
victed,' and dreadful as it was that he was about to forfeit his
' life according to law, as an example, he hoped and trusted, to
deter others from committing so wicked and horrid a crime.
He prayed God that it might, and that his poor unfortunate
victim, that he ' so barbarously and maliciously' deprived of
life, was now in heaven at rest — for with God all things are
possible, and might the Lord in his goodness have mercy on
his soul. His humble petition and request was, that the sheriff
might order, if possible, that the money (£8 lis. 4d.) that
was found on his person and taken from him by Mr. Coulson,
superintendent of the Brentwood police station, might be
given over to the poor unfortunate deceased's mother, Louisa
Last, of Doddinghurst, ' part restitution for the grievous in-
jury' he might have done her. As he desired to die at peace
with all mankind, this would greatly oblige him (the unfortu-
nate criminal). Such is the purport, and, as nearly as the in-
direct form of speech can convey it, the language of Drory's
only written confession. But though no complete statement
of his crime was committed to paper, the natural desire to un-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

197

burden his heart was constantly at work, and at different times
to the turnkeys and governors he verbally communicated the
manner in which the murder was accomplished. The substance
of these statements is, that he met Jael Denny by accident, as
far as he was concerned, at half-past five on the evening of the
murder, but he thought that she purposely put herself in his
way. lie said he could not talk to her then, but he would in
an hour's time have some chat with her. They met accord-
ingly, but meanwhile he had gone to a cellar in his father's
house, and taken part of a rope, left a. fortnight before by a
person who had brought it to tie up baskets of damsons which
he had bought, and who had left that portion of the rope be-
hind. He said, on one occasion, that he had carried the rope
for several days in his bosom ; on another, that he carried it
in his coat pocket ; and lastly, that he took it from the cellar
immediately before the act. These statements, though ap-
parently inconsistent, may be all true. On meeting her for
the second time, he said that he and Jael Denny talked and
walked about, after which, at her suggestion, they sat down
on the bank. She had come to urge him to marry her. He
passed the rope gently round her as they were sitting, and had
got the end into the loop before she perceived it, She jumped
up at once and put up her hands to save her throat (which is
proved by the marks on her fingers), but he pulled hard and
she fell without a struggle. He then left her lying in the field,
and went to Brentwood. In his last moments Drory admitted
that he was the father of the child that Jael Denny was preg-
nant with. His aspersions upon her character were not credited
by those most competent to judge. He had repeated inter-
views with his friends, who were allowed free access to his cell,
but on his side and theirs a dead silence — more expressive per-
haps than words — was observed as to the crime of which he
had been convicted. He showed little emotion in the presence
of his friends, and they generally occupied the time in reading
the Bible, or sermons, or in casual conversation. Mr. Neale,
the governor, used a remarkable expression in describing his
first interview with his old father. Being asked how they be-
haved, he replied, 1 They looked astounded at each other' —
well they might !

Turning to Sarah Chesham, we find her crime of even a
deeper dye than Drory's. She was forty-two years of age,
aud repute had raised her poisoning art to the dignity of a
professional murderess. Twice had she stood a trial for her
life, and, as often, escaped from justice. On one occasion she
17 *

198

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

owed her safety to the scruples of a Quaker, opposed to capital
punishment. Amongst the crimes charged were the poisonings
of her own children, and to crown her enormities, and to show
that no perils could turn her from her guilty purposes, she de-
stroyed her husband's life by small doses of arsenic. From
the medical evidence adduced against her on her first trial, she
learnt and put in practice the art of poisoning, and now she
has met the extreme penalty of the law without a sign of re-
pentance, an acceptance of religious consolations, or an ac-
knowledgment of her crimes. From time to time she has
made statements asserting her innocence, and charging other
people in incoherent terms with the offence for which she had
been condemned. It has gone the round of the papers that
she had admitted poisoning her children, but that turns out to
be untrue ; and at the last moment, on leaving her cell, her
protestations were as firm and decided as they have been
throughout. 'I am innocent,' she said, 'though my neck is
put into the halter for it.' Since her conviction she has steadily
refused to move out of her cell, either for the purposes of exer-
cise or religious devotion at the chapel. Drory also declined
attendance there at first, but on Sunday last, the 23d, he inti-
mated his desire to be present. Speaking of the spiritual con-
dition of both the condemned, the Rev. George Hamilton,
chaplain to the jail, with great sorrow expresses his conviction
that they displayed no satisfactory proofs of genuine penitence
and faith. He states that Sarah Chesham appeared constantly
occupied in thought, and seemed perfectly to comprehend every
argument and scriptural passage put before her calculated to
awaken the mind. Drory, the Rev. chaplain stated, seemed
little able to comprehend the enormity of his crime, and its
accompanying circumstances of cruelty and treachery.

And now it is requisite to give some account of the maimer
in which these guilty wretches bore the last trying and awful
moments of their fate. Drory slept till half-past four o'clock,
after which he rose and prepared himself by devotional exer-
cises for the execution of his sentence. Chesham passed such
a night as the guilty who are about to die impenitent might
be expected to endure. Her mental sufferings were extreme.
She never closed her eyes in sleep, and could taste no food.
When nine o'clock, the hour appointed for execution, arrived,
Drory was first taken across an open court-yard, to the foot
of the gateway tower, on the top of which the black scaffold,
dismal and bare, was reared. He quivered in every limb and
joint of his body, and was obliged to be supported as he pro-

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

199

ceeded, while the chaplain, avoiding the usual practice, on
such occasions, of repeating the burial service, read, instead,
prayers suitable to the solemn occasion. Arrived at the foot
of the staircase ascending the gateway tower, Drory was
pinioned in a cell set apart for that purpose, and thence he was
conducted in a state of extreme agitation and debility up stairs
to the drop. In the meantime Sarah Chesham was with some
little difficulty removed from her place of confinement. At
first she seemed disposed not to move, but on being told that
she would be carried to the place of execution if she persisted,
she consented to walk there. Nature, however, and the terrors
of a violent and disgraceful death were too strong for her, and
she required the assistance of two persons as she moved for-
ward. Drory appeared first on the fatal platform, and as soon
as he presented himself, with drooping head and pinioned arms,
and faint and trembling limbs, the vast crowd of spectators
assembled below were hushed into solemn and affecting silence.
To the number of 6000 or 1000 they had been slowly gather-
ing there from six o'clock in the morning ; their behavior
throughout was very orderly and sedate, though the shrill voices
of boys at play, and the calls of orange venders might be
heard at intervals. From all parts of the surrounding coun-
try the assemblage had come : it consisted principally of smock-
frocked laborers, their highlows and gaiters spattered with mud,
and their steps heavy wTith the number of miles they had travel-
led to 'the hanging.' A few farmers were present, eyeing
askance the dismal implement above the jail gateway, and
thinking of the minutes, hours, until the condemned made their
appearance. There were hardly any respectable people observ-
able in the crowd, but a most disgusting number of women.
Some of these had gay flowers in their bonnets, and evidently
set up for rustic belles ; others were mothers, giving suck to
infants whom they carried in their arms ; others were elderly
matrons, presiding at the head of their families, and from the
elevation of the domestic spring cart pointing out to their
young daughters how they could best see the execution. With
these exceptions, the great assemblage in front of the jail be-
haved itself with much propriety. Not more than half a dozen
police were visible, though Captain M'Hardy prudently had a
large body in reserve. The jail and the chief police station
stand opposite each other, with a wide roadway and a piece
of open ground intervening, and it was here that the spectators
were chiefly assembled. Drory, when placed on the drop, was
delivered over to the hands of Calcrat't, the executioner, who

200

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

quickly drew on the white cap and adjusted the rope, while
the miserable wretch ejaculated in broken accents, ' This is a
faithful saying-, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the
chief — of whom I am the chief — and he still kept repeating
that last significant acknowledgment until the drop fell. After
a delay of several minutes, during which many began to fear
that there was something wrong, Sarah Chesham was with
difficulty placed under the fatal beam, supported, like the other
prisoner, by two attendants. Without an instant's delay Cal-
craft completed his simple but dreadful preparations ; and
then, while with bated breath the thousands of spectators
below looked on, the bolt was drawn ; a faint murmur of horror
spread among the crowd as they saw the sentence of the law
carried into effect, which was prolonged as the convulsive
struggles of the dying man and woman were painfully visible.
In Drory all sign of animation was extinct in four or five
minutes, but Chesham struggled for six or seven. They were
both light figures, and they 'died hard.' The crowd almost
immediately after dispersed, and few remained to witness ' the
cutting down.' As they began to separate, hawkers of ballads
and 'true and correct account,' of the execution, and all kinds
of edibles, appeared among them, and the assemblage was a
sort of moving fair on its way back to town. The long pent
up excitement relaxed itself, it is to be supposed, in the same
manner as the spectators of a tragedy love to close the even-
ing with some lighter entertainment.

The last woman hanged at Chelmsford was Anne May —
her crime also that of poisoning. Mrs. Chesham was said to
have been intimate with her ; but she denied this stoutly, and
they appear to have lived in totally different parts of the
county. In little more than an hour after the bodies were cut
down, that of Drory was buried within the precincts of the
jail. All applications for a cast of his head were rigidly re-
fused, and the same with the other sacrifice to justice also.
The strictness of the authorities in this respect is much to be
commended, for such facilities, instead of being turned to any
useful purposes, are warped to feed the morbid curiosity of
coarse and ignorant minds. The body of Sarah Chesham was
not buried within the precincts of the jail, having been claimed
by a relative. It appears that having been indicted for poison-
ing, and not expressly for murder, the statute was not con-
sidered binding in her case." — Obterrcr, March 3Ks/, 1851.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

201

All this is very horrible, Major. It is awful, indeed, to
think of that scoundrel of an English Thugg, caressingly
gliding his arm around the poor girl, as she sat confidingly
by his side, slipping the fatal noose over her head, and
then, with fierce energy springing to his feet, and strang-
ling the struggling creature, together with his child in her
bosom.

The writer of the above article, you will perceive, ex-
presses himself at a loss " to explore the impulses which
led to this dreadful tragedy." If he would place himself
on the stand-point which we are about to occupy, and
survey the dread array of crimes continually occurring
around him, he would be compelled to see that the im-
pulses which lead to such dreadful tragedies must have
their origin in a passion for blood-shedding — in a blood-
lust intuitive with and native to his countrymen.

Observe how strongly this is exemplified in the other
case. That culprit, more exquisite in her tastes than the
worshipper of Thuggee, was not content to put her victim
to death by any vulgar and commonplace process — she
had no idea of bolting the rich repast ; but, with a luxu-
rious gratification of her appetite, she, as it were, leisurely
sipped the life-stream as it flowed slowly forth. She ad-
ministered small doses of arsenic to her husband, and,
with an epicurean satisfaction which Petronius Arbiter
might have envied, enjoyed the pleasure of his death by
slow degrees. Previously, it seems, she had had the com-
fort of disposing of her children in a similar manner.
Can we wonder that she shrank from death, as it is said
she did, at the foot of the gallows, when she reflected that
she was presently going where there were no more hus-
bands and children to be slowly poisoned?

But I must bring this letter to an end ; and so sub-
scribe myself

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Gra., U. S. of America.

202

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

LETTEK XXI.

MURDER AT BELPER, IN DERBYSHIRE — PROCEEDINGS AT THE
INQUEST.

London, October 29th, 1853.

Dear Major : — In the early part of the year 1851, an
awful murder of a lady was perpetrated in Derbyshire.
Here is an account of it :

"MURDER AT BELPER, IN DERBYSHIRE.

A most daring and cold-blooded murder was committed on
Saturday, the 27 th ult., at Belper, eight miles from Derby. It
appears that a man, named Anthony Turner, of Lane's End,
near Belper, had for some years collected rents for Mrs. Barnes,
a widow lady, who lived with a relative, Mr. Bannister, a clergy-
man of the Church of England, at Field House, Belper. Tur-
ner having become defaulter to a considerable amount, Mrs.
Barnes sent him a letter discharging him from his situation.
On the Saturday evening he went to Mr. Haslam's, grocer's
shop, and borrowed a large carving-knife. After the knife was
given to him, he said that he would do something that would
cause him to 'be spoken of,' and walked quickly away. As he
was in a very excited state, and had been speaking of his dis-
missal by Mrs. Barnes, Mr. Haslam ran out and called to him
to come back, and he heard Turner call out in reply ' I will
not ;' but the night was so dark that he could not see Turner.
This was at eight in the evening. Turner then went to Mrs.
Barnes's house, to which, however, Mr. Haslam had previously
proceeded, and had acquainted the servant of Turner's threats.
On Turner's arrival at the house the servant said that Mrs.
Barnes could not be seen then ; but Turner rushed up stairs,
and the door of Mrs. Barnes's room being fastened, he broke
it open, and perpetrated the murder. Meanwhile the servant
had run to call Mr. Bannister, who, in proceeding up stairs,
met Turner with the knife in his hand. A struggle ensued, and
Mr. Bannister threw Turner down stairs, kqd then proceeded
to Mrs. Barnes's room, where lie found herein a dying >laie.
Turner, on leaving the house, attempted to strike the mi \ ant
with the knife, but she evaded the blow. He then ran out, and

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

203

for the time escaped. lie is married, and, having no child, lie
adopted a female infant. He is a tailor by trade, and was for-
merly a preacher in the Wesleyan Methodist connection. He
is about forty-five years of age, five feet eight inches in height,
black eyes, and rather a forbidding appearance. The police
were immediately on the alert in pursuit of the murderer, and
Mr. Jedediah Strutt, the magistrate of the district, caused the
river to be dragged in order to ascertain whether he had com-
mitted suicide by drowning himself.

The Inquest. — On Monday an inquest -was opened upon the
body at the New Inn, Belper, by Mr. H. Morley, the coroner.
The jury, having viewed the body, returned to the inn, and the
following evidence was given : —

Mr. John Haslam, of Belper-lane, grocer and druggist, said :
I knew Turner for twenty years. On Saturday night, about
eight o'clock, Turner came to me in the room behind my shop,
and sat down. He seemed full of liquor, and I said, ' Turner,
you are full of liquor.' He said he was drunk, and I told him
to compose himself and take a pipe. I then gave him tobacco,
and he smoked it and became talkative. He said he had re-
ceived a notice from Mrs. Barnes that he was discharged from
her service. He read it to me and my wife. He had received
it that morning. I then had to go to a customer in the shop,
and Turner, in passing out through the shop, took from the
counter a large knife used for cutting cheese, and said, as he
went out, 'Excuse my taking this knife.' I immediately went
to the door, and shouted ' Halloo, Turner, I want to speak to
you, come back.' The night was dark, and I could not see
him, but I heard him distinctly say, 1 1 won't.' I then got my
hat and stick and followed as fast as I could to Mrs. Barnes's
lodge, which I reached in about seven minutes. I saw Mrs.
Tomlinson at the lodge door, and told her that Turner was in
a drunken, excited state, and was coming to Mrs. Barnes's
house to do something that 'would be talked of.' I told Mrs.
Tomlinson to go and prevent his being admitted into the house.
She went, and returned in a few minutes, saying 'All is right,'
and that Turner was quietly standing in the kitchen. At that
instant the alarm bell of the house was rung, and many persons
went down to the house. I did not go down myself, but I
heard afterwards that Mrs. Barnes's throat was cut. I have
not seen Turner, or the knife since.

Mary Tomlinson, daughter of the lodge keeper, at Field
House, said : Turner had frequently called on Mrs. Barnes on
business. My father gave Turner a note from Mrs. Barnes on

204 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Saturday afternoon, at three o'clock. Turner asked had my
father read it, and he replied ' No.' Turner then went away.
Mr. Haslam called that evening at eight o'clock, but I did not
hear what he said to my mother. I went to the kitchen door
of the house, and saw Turner standing against a table. I told
him that a gentleman wanted him. He asked who it was, and
I said ' Come and you will see.' Turner said he could not come
just then, as the servant had gone up stairs, and he would wait
till she came down, and that he would then come. I replied,
1 Now be sure, Turner.' He said, ' You go, and I will follow
you in a few minutes.' I then went to the lodge, and told my
mother what he had said. Turner appeared calm, and spoke
in his usual manner to me. As soon as I told my mother the
alarm bell was rung. I then ran towards the house, and met
Turner running very fast towards the lodge gates. I seized
his left arm and said, ' Oh, Turner, what have you been doing V
He replid, 'You hold off me ; go back ;' and he went towards
the lodge, pushing me away from him with great violence with
his arms. It was so dark that I could not see whether he had
anything in his right hand. I then went to the house, and
forced the back door open. Miss Harmer, a lady on a visit
there, sent me for Taylor, a constable.

Harriet Storer said : I have known Mrs. Barnes for the last
twenty years. I was in her service ten years as cook. Turner
had been in the habit of collecting rents for her at Derby since
April last. Mrs. Barnes was sixty-four years old at the time
of her death. Turner had frequently occasion to visit 31 rs.
Barnes's house. I knew that Mrs. Barnes gave him a discharge
on Saturday last in consequence of his not having paid up his
arrears. She prepared a notice, which she read over to me ;
it discharged him from receiving any more rents. I gave the
notice to John Tomlinson, the lodge-keeper, to give to Turner.
This was about one o'clock on Saturday. I did not see Turner
myself until the evening. He came to the house by the back
door about a quarter past eight in the evening. He knocked
at the door, and then came in without the door being opened
to him. I met him in the passage as I was going to open the
door, having heard his knock. He looked wild and bad-tem-
pered, and appeared to me as if he was drunk. He said to me,
' Can I see Mrs. Barnes ? — I want to see her ;' and I replied,
' If you will go into the kitchen, I will go and see.' He then
went into the kitchen, and I went up stairs into Mrs. Barnes's
room, and which is called 'the nursery.' It is the room in
which Mrs. Barnes transacted her business, and occupied a good

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 205

deal. I found Mrs. Barnes sitting by the fire writing, as I
pointed out to the jury this morning. I told her that Anthony
Turner wanted to speak to her below, and that I thought she
had better not see him, as he appeared drunk. She replied,
1 1 won't see him,' and fastened the door on the inside. She
got up, and as I went out she bolted the door behind me. I
then went down stairs, and found him in the little room, stand-
ing in the centre of it, by the dresser. I said to him, ' Turner,
you must excuse Mrs. Barnes to-night, she can't see you ; she

will see you on Monday.' He then said, ' D you, I will

see her,' and threw me down with my head against the corner
of the table. He then ran up stairs. I heard him try to open
the door and shake it, and kick it with his feet. He kicked it
for about two minutes, and then I went to the Rev. Mr. Ban-
nister, who was in the dining-room, and requested him to stand
about, as Turner was up stairs drunk. I ran up stairs before
Mr. Bannister came out of the dining-room, and found Mrs.
Barnes's room-door open. I went in and found Turner stand-
ing before her, with his left knee on her knee, and his left hand
on her right shoulder, and a large knife in his right hand, but
I could not tell whether or not he was cutting her throat. He
was evidently holding it to her throat, but I could not see him
cutting, as his back was between me and deceased. She had
rang the bell before Turner forced his way into the room, and
screamed ' Harriet' twice. She never spoke afterwards. I
then rushed down the front stairs. I had previously come up
the back stairs. I sent the other servant girl, Hannah Ashton,
for Taylor, the police constable, and as I turned round at the
bottom of the back stairs, I met Turner coming down them in
great haste, as if he had been thrown down. Two steps from
the bottom he recovered his legs. He took hold of my right
arm with his bloody hand, and swore he would murder me. I
could feel his hand tremble. It was his left hand. He flou-
rished a large knife over my head, and made a cut at my face,
but I threw my head back, and sprang away from him, and he
let go of me at the same moment. The knife did not reach my
flesh, but so near was it, that it cut a piece of my cap. I got
away into a dark passage, and thence into the breakfast-room.
He listened to find out which way I was gone, and followed me
up two steps into a dark passage, but he could not see me. I
heard him say, ' D — n you, I shall see you yet and finish you.'
I then heard the alarm-bell ringing loud, and I never heard or
saw anything of him afterwards. I remained in the breakfast-
room until I heard he was gone. I then returned to Mrs.
18

206

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR;

Barnes's room up stairs, and found Mr. Bannister there. Mrs.
Barnes was sitting on the sofa supported by Mr. Bannister.
She was not capable of speaking, and was bleeding very fast.
She could not speak, but seemed sensible. I put cold water to
her lips ; she seemed to see it, and squeezed my hand. She
soon afterwards ceased to breathe. We laid her down on her
back, and after one gasp, she died. Mr. Evans and Mr. Lomas,
surgeons, had arrived just before she died.

The Rev. J. Bannister, incumbent of Bridge Hill District
Church, Belper, said : The deceased lived with me in the same
house ; she was my wife's aunt, and was sixty-four years of age.
The first intimation I had of the transaction was Harriet com-
ing to the dining-room about eight o'clock. Miss Harmer and
Miss Harrison were in the room. Harriet called me to the
door, and told me to stand about, as Turner was drunk up
stairs with Mrs. Barnes. Mrs. Bannister was in the breakfast-
room with eleven of the Sunday School girls. I was at the
top of the two steps leading to the little hall, when I heard a
great noise up stairs in Mrs. Barnes's room. I rushed up, and
found her room-door open. I saw Mrs. Barnes standing in the
middle of the room motioning with her hands, but I could not
tell for what object. I had no idea that she had been mur-
dered. I at first thought she had a red comforter round her
neck, and hanging down her body. It was dark, and I did not
at first distinguish the blood. I turned round, and saw Turner
in the doorway waving a knife above his head, and looking at
her and me. He said nothing, but appeared to be triumphing
over what he had done. Imagining that Mrs. Barnes had been
insulted, I said, 'Begone; get out of the house ; I will fetch a
constable to you.' I then gave another glance at Mrs. Barnes,
and, as Turner got to the top of the stairs, I laid my hands on
his shoulder, and threw him down the stairs. I then shouted,
' The constable ! the bell, the bell I' Meanwhile Miss Harrison
and Miss Turner had entered the room. Miss Harrison led
Mrs. Barnes to the sofa. Miss Harrison put a handkerchief
to the wound in the neck, and we applied various things. Mrs.
Barnes, just before she died, said, ' Take care of Patience and
Louisa,' meaning my wife and my wife's sister.

The proceedings were here adjourned to Wednesday morn-
ing."— Obser*cer, January bth, 1851.

You shall hear more from mo on this subject. Mean-
time, 1 am, Respectfully, yours, etc.,
To Maj. J. Jones, P. Jones.
Pineville, Ga.; U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

207

LETTEE XXII.

DREADFUL MURDER AT FROME, SOMERSET — VIOLATION AND

MURDER SHOCKING MURDER NEAR LINCOLN A BROTHER

KILLED BY HIS SISTER — SUPPOSED MURDER AT BARNSLEY
— POISONINGS — A WOMAN'S HEAD CUT OFF BY HER SON.

London, November 15th, 1853.

Dear Majoe : — In the month of October of the year
1851, a poor girl was murdered in Somersetshire under
circumstances of the ihost shocking brutality. Three men
were accused of the crime, arrested and tried for it ; and
here follows an account of the trial :

" THE FROME MURDER.

At the Assizes held at Taunton, on Tuesday, William Spar-
row, 30, William Maggs, 44, and Robert Hurd, alias Frome
Bob, 3T, were indicted for the wilful murder of Sarah Watts,
at Woodlands, Frome, on the 24th of September last. The
very complicated circumstances of this case, to which no fewer
than forty-three witnesses deposed, will more clearly appear if
given in a narrative form. The unfortunate deceased, Sarah
Watts, was a child of 14, the daughter of a small farmer at
Woodlands, near Frome. On the 24th of September, her
father and mother left home to attend Frome market, as they
were in the habit of doing, leaving the child alone in the house.
On their return about four o'clock, the father, on going into
the milk-house, discovered his unfortunate child lying dead,
with her clothes torn, and her person bruised and bloody. At
first he had no suspicion of foul play, and, after acquainting
his wife that the child was dead, he very quietly went into the
fields to drive in some cattle. Upon a surgeon being sent for,
it was found that the unfortunate child had been ravished as
well as murdered, and that death had been produced by stran-
gulation arising from pressure on the windpipe. Upon the
wall there were marks of the girl's shoes, which indicated that
she had been taken up by the heels and forced headforemost
into a whey tub, the milk in which was afterwards found to be

208

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

discolored, apparently by blood. Upon the wall near the door
was found the impress of a left hand, and from the thumb had
trickled down some drops of blood. It was also found that
the room upstairs had been ransacked, and a watch had been
taken, but no money had been left there. There was a silk
handkerchief left on the kitchen table. Although the deed
was committed in broad daylight, within one hundred yards of
the road, and near some houses, there was no eye-witness to
any part of the transaction, and the girl had not been heard
to cry out. An inquest was held on the body, and an active
officer of the detective force was sent to Frome. Shortly after
his arrival his suspicions rested upon the prisoners, and he in-
quired of them separately where they were on the day of the
murder. They all answered with willingness, but gave what
turned out to be false accounts of their doings on that day.
The direction they had taken from hour to hour was traced,
and it was proved that Maggs and Sparrow had been seen
within half a mile of the house where the murder was commit-
ted, and they had afterwards come from the direction of the
house, and had joined Hurd, who was left some distance off.
They then went on to Frome market, where they stood in the
market-place, apparently to attract public attention, and they
were again in the evening at a public house. Whilst talking
together in the market, a person who was passing, caught the
words, 'Watch, but no tin.' These circumstances, the finding
of a watch upon Sparrow,, and the prior reputation of the
prisoners, led to their apprehension, when it was found that
Sparrow had a bad thumb, apparently produced by a bite,
which he said had been produced by a chap in a fight on Brad-
ley Fair day; but persons who saw his hand two days after,
and the surgeon who examined it, positively stated that it was
such a wound as could not have been done so recently as three
days, for that matter had formed beneath it. In addition to
this, the handkerchief — the only article left behind by the mur-
derers— was spoken to, but not very positively, by three wit-
nesses as having been in Sparrow's possession. On Monday,
Sept. 29, a fair was held at North Bradley, seven miles from
Frome, and when a woman named Watson, asked him had he
heard of the murder, he said he had, and that he had seen the
dead body on the day after the murder. That she had blows
on her head from a stick, and that she had been put in a whey
tub, which was covered with blood from her head. It appeared,
however, that the discovery of the deceased having been put
into the whey tub had not been made at the time of this con-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 209

versation, and, therefore, the prisoner Sparrow's knowledge
of the fact seemed unaccounted for. Against Maggs, the evi-
dence, in addition to the connection with the other prisoners
in the movements of the 24th, was of a conversation be-
tween Maggs and an unknown man in a lane to the follow-
ing effect : ' Hast heard any news V 1 Yes, I've heerd that
the London police officer has been to Bill Sparrow, and said to
he, 'Ah, my good fellow, I'm glad 'wasn't you committed this
murder, for you'll get the free pardon and £50.' To this
Maggs replied, ' He'll neither have the pardon nor the £50, for
he's the man that killed her.' It was, however, shown that
the witness who spoke to this conversation had been in prison
for a trifling offence. This witness had bt^en much maltreated
since he had given evidence. His windows had been broken
in, and he had been obliged to leave the neighborhood. In-
deed, a system of terrorism appeared to have prevailed — the
witnesses spoke for the most part as if in great fear of the
prisoners, whose attempts at intimidation obliged his lordship
more than once to interfere, and to order the jailor to see that
they kept their places. The court was occupied for eleven
hours in hearing the case for the Crown, and the jury were
then locked up at 9 o'clock, P. M.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Edwards addressed the jury
for the prisoners, and commented on the fact that Sparrow had
been apprehended merely because a watch was found upon
him, which, however, turned out never to have belonged to
Watts. He also complained of no attorney having been allowed
by the magistrates to-be present at the previous investigations;
and he further complained of the manner in which the detective
officer had suddenly and abruptly questioned the prisoners on
the subject. He also remarked on the fact, that counsel for
the prosecution had not produced the statements which the
prisoners had made.

Mr. Justice Erie then summed up ; the tenor of his charge
was in favor of an acquittal.

The jury then retired for two hours, and returned a verdict
of not guilty.

On this, Hurd exclaimed: 'My lord, we are all innocent.
Providence has done this.' Maggs said, 'I declare to God,
we are all innocent.' Sparrow : 'We were not within a mile
of the spot, God has done it.' Hurd : 'My lord, it will be
all found out within a month. Let me speak to Mr. Smith '
(the detective officer). They all said, ' Let us see Mr. Smith.' "
— Observer, April 12th, 1852.

18* 0

210 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

You will perceive from this report that these men were
acquitted. The case was not full made out against them,
perhaps. But some man or mm murdered and mutilated
the poor child in this horrible way. And what do you
think of the civilization of a place where such a deed could
occur, and go unpunished ? And what of a place where
a father is to be found, who, returning to his home, finds
a daughter (whom a short time previously he had left in
health) lying before him a bruised and bloody corpse, and
who is yet capable of going off immediately and " quietly
into the fields to drive in some cattle ? "

Here is an account of the murder and violation of an-
other poor child in the spring of 1852, exhibiting circum-
stances of horror, over which the fiends in hell might
rejoice with exceeding great joy :

" VIOLATION AND MURDER.

On Thursday, a lengthened inquiry, adjourned from Tuesday
evening last, was resumed and concluded before Mr. Baker and
a respectable jury, at the Fisherman's Boat, Bromley, relative
to the death of Sarah Ann Smith, aged 14, whose body was
found in the River Lea, near Three Mill-lane. The inquiry
had been adjourned for a postmortem examination of the body.
Emily Smith, a married woman, residing in Frederick street,
Mile End New Town, said that the deceased lived with her
mother at Bow. On Friday morning last, she came to witness
to assist in cleaning her rooms. She was with witness the
whole of the day, and left about eight o'clock at night to re-
turn to her mother. She was very cheerful all the time she
was with witness, and, on leaving, observed that she would
soon be home.

S. Edells, in employment at the Corn Mills, Bromley, deposed
to finding the body in the river.

The mother of the deceased, who resides at Chapel House,
Bow, stated that her daughter was a steady girl, and that she
had never on any previous occasion been absent from home.

Mr. C. E. Gar man, surgeon, Albert Place, Bow, said that
he was directed by the constable on Saturday week to see the
body of the deceased, when, on examination, he found suffi-
cient evidence to convince him that the person of the deceased
had been very recently abused, lie had since made, by order
of the coroner, a post mortem examination of the body, and

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

211

was fully confirmed in the opinion that her person had been
violated within a short period before her death. On open-
ing the chest, he discovered that the second, third, and fifth
ribs on the right side were fractured. The whole of the
internal organs were healthy, with the' exception of the brain,
which was very much congested, the effect of suffocation.

Foreman : Would not a violent blow by a stick have caused
the fracture of the ribs ?

Witness : Not in this case, as there are no external marks
of violence, which is extraordinary. Besides, a blow from a
stick would not have left an intermediate rib unfractured. In
my opinion, the fractures were occasioned by some violent
pressure.

The Coroner remarked that there could be but little doubt
in the minds of the jury that the unfortunate child had been
violated by some villain or villains, who, in order to avoid de-
tection, had destroyed her life. They might safely come to
the conclusion that wilful murder had been committed.

Verdict, wilful murder against some person or persons un-
known.

A reward has been offered by the Secretary of State on con-
viction of the atrocious ruffians." — Observer, April 5th, 1852.

Early in the same year, I met with the following report
of a barbarous murder :

"SHOCKING MURDER NEAR LINCOLN.

On Thursday week a shocking murder was discovered to
have been committed by a man upon his mother. The scene
of the tragedy was a small house at Scotherne, near Lincoln.
The name of the murdered woman was Sarah Webster, a widow,
about sixty-seven years of age ; and the name of the murderer
is John King, a farm laborer, her illegitimate son, with whom
his victim had resided since the 21st ult. The unfortunate de-
ceased was well known at Lincoln, where she had resided for
the last twenty years, the greater part of which period she
kept a house of ill-fame, where her own daughters resided with
her in a state of prostitution. She was married some time
after the birth of the prisoner, and had several children by her
husband, whose name was Webster. It appears that the pri-
soner is a married man, and has a son twelve years of age,
and a daughter seventeen. He has been subject to fits; and
his wife, who is in the habit of going out to work, had sent for

212

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

her to take care of him in her absence. On the day preceding
the murder he struck his mother a blow as she was giving him
some tea, and from that time she appeared terrified at his vio-
lence. On Thursday week the murdered woman was left alone
with the prisoner, his wife and daughter having gone to a
funeral in the village of Scotherne. The person who lives next
door to the prisoner was returning home about four o'clock,
when the prisoner beckoned at her from the window ; and, as
she approached, he put out his hands, and said, 1 Come on, I
have had a spree, and am ready for you again.' On entering
the house she discovered the unfortunate woman seated in a
chair, and weltering in her blood. Her head was hanging on
her right arm, and she was bleeding from the mouth and face.
An alarm was made, and several neighbors were soon on the
spot. They discovered that the deceased was quite dead. It
is believed that the prisoner had beaten his mother with his
fists about the head and face, and that she had fallen on the
edge of the chair, breaking her jawbone in the centre. The
blood had spurted through the spindles of the chair, and stained
the wall underneath the window. The prisoner's right hand
was covered with blood. An inquest was held on the body
immediately afterwards by Mr. Hitehens, the coroner; and
after the examination of a number of witnesses, and a post
mortem examination of the body, the jury returned a verdict
of wilful murder against the prisoner, and he was forthwith
committed to the assizes at Lincoln." — Observer, March 1th,
1852.

You will observe that this was the murder of a mother
by her own son. He was an illegitimate son, it is true,
and his mother was an infamous woman ; but in other
countries, certainly, the natural instincts are not oblite-
rated from such people.

As another example of that moral ossification of the
heart which seems to abound in this country, take the fol-
lowing case, which occurred between brother and sister,
also in the spring of 1852 :

"A BROTHER KILLED BY HIS SISTER.

On Wednesday last an inquest was held at Coleford, on the
body of Edwin Gwyn, 26, laborer, of Lane End, residing with
his mother and sister. It appears that on Friday, the 27th

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

213

ult, deceased asked his mother for money to go to Coleford
with. She refused ; his sister, Ann Gwyn, saving, ' Edwin,
you cannot expect mother to be always giving you money.'
Deceased then commenced striking and kicking her about the
body and head. She was at this time ironing clothes on a
table. She then ran out of the house with the flat-iron in her
hand, deceased following her. When she got out of doors, she
turned around and threw the iron at him, which struck him on
the right side of his head, causing the blood to flow from his
ears, nose, and mouth. Mr. Batten, surgeon, of Coleford,
was sent for immediately ; but, deceased still getting worse, in
about half an hour he went up stairs to bed, became insensible,
and never spoke or moved afterwards, and on Sunday he died.
Mr. Batten made a post mortem examination of the body, and
on opening the head, found the skull fractured about an inch
above the ear, extending to the ear, and into the base of the
skull. There was a slight indentation to the fracture, which
corresponded exactly with the heel part of the flat-iron. He
also found some coagulated blood under the skull, on the brain,
caused by the rupture of a blood-vessel and the fracture of the
skull. The jury returned a verdict of excusable homicide —
deciding that the act was done in self-defence." — Observer,
March loth, 1852,

A few days afterwards, the two cases following were
reported by the same paper :

. u SUPPOSED MURDERS AT BARXSLEY.

On Wednesday morning, some colliers, who reside on the
premises formerly occupied as the Woodman Inn, near Barns-
ley, started for their work. When about twenty yards from
their own doors, they found a female named Annie Laycock,
aged twenty-three years, lying with her daughter Emily, aged
ten months, in her arms, both of whom had their throats cut.
The head of the child was nearly severed from its body. De-
ceased was married about three years ago to an excavator
named Thomas Smith ; but, in consequence of Smith having
another wife, Laycock left him, and has since been cohabiting
with a person named James Gledhill, a poacher. They
resided in a batch of houses adjoining to Sheffield and Wake-
field turnpike-road, about 200 yards from the place where the
bodies were found. It is stated that he was in the habit of
ill-using the poor woman. On Monday he was drinking at

211 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Bamsley, and when he went home he beat her so much that
the neighbors interfered ; but he continued his ill-treatment.
Gledhill has been taken into custody." — Observer, March
29th, 1852.

" POISONING.

At Bury St. Edmunds Assizes, on Thursday, William Ro-
binson, aged eighty-two, was convicted of the murder of Ann
Cornell, at Great Thurlow, in August last. The prisoner, who
appeared in the dock almost in a dying state, lived at Great
Thurlow, near Newmarket, with his daughter-in-law, Mary
Rollinson, the widow of his son, who died in 1850. In 1851,
one Jermyn courted Mrs. Rollinson, and the old man strenu-
ously opposed the match, but without effect — it being deter-
mined by the lovers that they would marry, and remove Mrs.
Rollinson's furniture from the prisoner's house. Under these
circumstances, it was shown that one day in August, when Ann
Cornell, the sister of Mary Rollinson, came to dine with her,
they were both taken ill immediately after eating some pud-
ding made of flour kept by Mary Rollinson in an open trough,
and eventually Ann Cornell died and was buried — it being
then supposed by the medical man attending her that she died
of English cholera. Before this, similar but not fatal symp-
toms arose after Mrs. Rollinson had partaken of dinner ; and
some time afterwards Mrs. Rollinson was again taken ill after
eating dumplings made from the same flour. Inquiries were
then made, which left no doubt that the prisoner had put
arsenic into the flour. Ann Cornell's body was exhumed, and
it appeared she had died from taking arsenic. The prisoner,
whose aim appeared to have been to destroy Mary Rollinson,
was sentenced to death." — Observer, March 29M, 1852.

Here is another report of a mother's murder by her
son about this time. I shudder whilst I enclose the
ghastly picture which it presents.

" HORRIBLE MURDER IN LAMBETH.

A Woman's Head cat off by her Son.

A sensation which it would be difficult to describe was
caused yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, throughout the neigh-
borhood of Keunington Road and Lambeth, in consequence

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

215

of the following frightful murder, committed by a young man
upon his mother, a respectably connected female, of the name
of Elizabeth Wheeler, a widow, of about forty-four years of
age. The following particulars connected with this dreadful
tragedy were obtained on the spot a few minutes after the
melancholy occurrence :

The house in which the tragedy took place was No. 1 Dur-
ham Place, Kennington Road, and immediately facing Beth-
lehem Hospital for lunatics. The building was occupied by
Mr. Wickeus, a dyer and scourer, a family named Toms, and
the unfortunate woman who has been thus prematurely hurried
into eternity, and her son, a young man about twenty-eight
years of age.

Yesterday afternoon, at a few minutes before one o'clock,
Mrs. Toms, who was in the house at the time, had her atten-
tion directed to a loud scream proceeding from the upper part
of the building, which was succeeded by a heavy fall of some-
thing on the floor. She immediately went to ascertain the
cause, when the son of the unfortunate woman made a hasty
retreat out of the building, carrying in his hand a stick and a
knife. Mrs. Toms, having entered the apartment occupied by
the poor creature, was horror-struck at finding the trunk of
thewroman lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and the head,
which was Completely severed from the neck, was lying on a
table in the same room, the flesh still moving to and fro. Mrs.
Toms instantly hastened down stairs, and informed her hus-
band that the young man had murdered his mother. By that
period, he had proceeded some distance up the Kennington
Road, in the direction of the common. Mr. Toms, however,
never lost sight of him, but followed his track until he got
within a few yards of Chester street. At that point police-
constable Lockyer, No. 135, came along, and having had his
attention directed to the alleged murderer, he forthwith secured
him. He at once admitted that he had murdered his poor
mother, and informed the officer that he first struck her on the
head with an iron, and afterwards cut her head off by means
of an axe and a knife. The constable at once took the man
to the station-house in Kennington Lane ; and on his way
thither he told the officer he wTas now sorry that he had com-
mitted the murder, but the fact was he could not help it, for
his mother and other persons were continually torturing him
and following him about. He also informed the same officer
that he had been confined in a lunatic asylum, and had not

216 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

been liberated long. The murderer, when arrested, did not
offer the least resistance, and, to all outward appearance, did
not feel the awful position he had placed himself in.

From the state of the room, there is no doubt entertained
but the unfortunate female was in the act of leaving the apart-
ment with a saucepan of greens in her hand, in order to strain
off the water, when her son gave her a violent blow on the
head, which felled her to the floor ; after which, he must have
knelt upon her body and performed the act of decapitation.
The saucepan was lying near the door, and the steam was still
ascending from the greens therein. In the midst of the pool
of blood was lying a pillow, which it is believed the murderer
had placed there to prevent the gore from flying over his
clothes. When apprehended by Lockyer, not a spot of blood
was perceptible upon his clothes, and his hands were perfectly
clean — leading to the supposition that after perpetrating the
dreadful deed he had washed his hands.

In the afternoon, the prisoner was examined before the
Hon. Mr. Norton, at Lambeth police office. The prisoner, on
being placed at the bar, looked wildly around him, and ap-
peared to be either unconscious or indifferent to the position
in which he was placed. He was dressed in a black frock-
coat, black waistcoat, and light woollen trowsers. He had a
black scarf, or neckerchief, twisted rather than tied round his
neck. He is a well-made man, with large black eyes, regular
features, and an intelligent countenance." — Observer, April
12th, 1852.

I doubt not but that this wretched young man was
insane ; and I refer to the case for the purpose of showing,
not that a sane man committed this unnatural and savage
crime, but as an illustration of the way in which insanity
tends to develop itself in this blood-stained land. In an-
other country, where the lunatic had not been all his life
familiar with deeds of blood, by hearing of or witnessing
them, and where he had not, as it were, inherited this
taste for blood, his insanity would have manifested itself,
I have no doubt, in some milder form ; and at all events
(especially if he was not a raving and raging maniac, as
this man was not), would never have urged him to the
perpetration of such a crime upon the person of his

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

217

own mother. The case thus serves to show, in another
aspect, what manner of men this English people are.
I will resume the subject in my next; and am,
Very respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga.; U. S. of America.

LETTER XXIII.

ALLEGED MURDER OF A GENTLEMAN BY HIS HOUSEKEEPER.

London, November 22d, 1853.

Dear Major : — On Wednesday, the 2d of February,
in the present year, a housekeeper was charged before the
Lambeth Police Court with the murder of an aged and
infirm gentleman, of whom she had the charge. I fur-
nish you with a report of the case from a paper of the
6th of February. You will find it both curious and
shocking.

"ALLEGED MURDER OF A GENTLEMAN BY HIS HOUSEKEEPER,

On Wednesday, Elizabeth Yiekers, a middle-acred and well-
dressed female, was charged at Lambeth Police Court with
having by violence caused the death of Mr. William Jones, an
aged gentleman of considerable property, with whom she had
lived for many years as housekeeper.

The death of Mr. Jones was discovered on the 10th ult., two
days after it occurred, and its causes were investigated by a
jury, who attributed the event to a fall. The facts detailed
below, however, led to the prisoner's apprehension, notwith-
standing the verdict of the inquest.

The first witness called was Mr. David Key, a surgeon, of
Brixton, who said : I attended Mr. Jones, who lived at Spring-
field Cottage, near Acre lane, at intervals, for several years.
On the 10th of January I was called to Mr. Jones' house about
19

218

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

about half past 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning, and went there
a little after 8. I found Mr. Jones dead, lying upon a sofa in
the back parlor. He was dressed as usual, and lying on a
blanket which was wrapped round him. The prisoner was in
the room at that time. I asked her how long he had been
lying there. She said she could not get him up to bed the
night before ; that he asked her for a little water, which she
gave him, and that he died at half past 3 o'clock in the morn-
ing. She said she could not get him up stairs, because he was
so helpless, and that he had expressed a wish that she should
sit up with him. I asked her what time he was down on the
Sunday (the day before), and she said she could not tell me
the exact time, but that he had dined up-stairs, and after that
he came down. I asked her if he had had any spirits, and she
said he had had a little gin and water, but could not tell the
exact quantity. She said he had lain on the sofa from the time
he came down until he died. I asked her if he had made any
snoring noise, and she said no. I asked her if he was insensi-
ble, and she said no. She said he died directly after taking
the water. I asked her if he had swallowed any. It appeared
to me to be a very confused account that she gave. I then
examined the body, and found several wounds on the forehead.
The witness here described the wounds with considerable mi-
nuteness ; they were contused wounds, and seven or eight in
number, but the two principal were one on the forehead, and
the other on the right temple. The lower cartilage of the nose
was also broken. The injuries could not have been inflicted
more than five days before, but might have been of much later
date. Corresponding with the bruise on the right temple, there
was a sufficient effusion of blood between the dura mater and
the skull-bone to press upon the brain, by which death was
caused. The prisoner told witness the injuries had been caused
by falls The old man was decidedly a healthy subject. No
single f-^ll would produce such wounds, nor, in witness' opinion,
could wey be accounted for by a succession of falls. Witness
added : I have been to see the deceased several times, when I
could not get in, but not for a month or two before his death.
I saw him once in August last ; he had then two black eyes
and a slight scratch or two upon the nose, and likewise upon
the chin. The prisoner was present at the time, and I asked
him, in her presence, if he had fallen down stairs. He made
no answer ; but the prisoner, before he had time to do so,
exclaimed, ' Don't answer,' and he did not.

Miss Susan Allen, of No. 5, Springfield Cottages, Acre-lane,

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

219

Brixton, said : The deceased resided next door to me. On
New Year's-day last Mr, Jones came to the fence of the garden
and spoke to ine. He was then in excellent health and very
cheerful, but he had a very large bruise, as big as a walnut, ou
the right side of his head, uear the temple, and a large bruise
above that as large as a middle' sized teacup on the right side
of the head. He had his nightcap on at the time, and it was
much stained with blood. It was put on so as not to cover
the injuries, so that I could plainly see them. I have frequently
seen bruises on him before this, and he has complained to me
about them. I have seen the prisoner beat him violently and
pull him about by his grey hair. I have seen her pull him
from the garden fence to his own house'by the hair, beating
him on the head and shoulders with her clenched fists. I have
seen her beat him with both her fists about the head. This
was in the course of last spring. I have seen violence used by
her in the autumn before. She pulled him in then by the hair
of the head, and beat him with her fists on his head ; and she
said then she would make him remember going out, as she had
desired him not, while she was out. For the last twelvemonth
not a week had passed without my hearing her beating him. I
can hear it from outside the house. I had listened at his re-
quest. The prisoner frequently came home intoxicated. I
believe she has scarcely been seen sober for an entire day for a
year. She told me that Mr. Jones had made over £1000 in
their joint names, and she wished it in her own name, but Mr.
Key had persuaded Mr. Jones not to do so ; but she would
make him remember going from his promise as long as he
lived : that she would let him know that she was a Leon re-
solved ; and as he had called upon Mr. Key unknown to her,
he should never go out of the house by himself again ; and, if
Mr. Key came there, she would kick him out. On the Sunday
following, Mr. Jones came to me and showed me bruises on his
head. His eyes were blackened and his head bruised and
bleeding. I have repeatedly heard her drive him up stairs,
and lock him up, then go out, and come home drunk. On the
Friday night before he died, at about 11 o'clock, the prisoner
came home drunk and lay on the ground outside their door
for about three-quarters of an hour, abusing Mr. Key, and call-
ing out. 'Old Jones, come and let me in.' Then the door
opened, but was shut again, for the policeman was then with
her. When the policeman went away, the prisoner went in
and shut the door, and in two minutes after I heard a heavy
fall in the passage or on the stairs. It appeared to me that

220

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

the prisoner had fallen on Mr. Jones at the door. I went in-
side then, and went to bed. The next morning, at 7 o'clock,
heard the door of the house shut. At 9 o'clock I found the
shutters still closed. At 1 o'clock in the day I saw the pri-
soner, and was going to speak to her about Mr. Jones, but she
shunned me. I listened the whole of that day and night, but
could not hear Mr. Jones. He had a cough, which I heard
generally, but on that day I could not hear it. On the Sun-
day morning I looked for the prisoner, but could not see or
hear anything of her, and at 11 o'clock I went to church.
When I returned, at 1 o'clock, I still found the shutters closed.
I then looked at Mr. Jones's window, and saw the blind up, and
the prisoner stood at the side of the window. She looked very
agitated, and I nodded to her, but she did not return it, and
seemed much confused. I repeated my nod to her, but she did
not notice it, and I then went to the back of the house, and
found it fastened. I watched the house, but saw no one go
out. At 5 o'clock I heard a cab drive away from the gate,
and some person speaking. At that moment the prisoner came
out and picked up the papers that had been thrown into the
garden by the postman at 9 o'clock in the morning, and had
been lying there all day. I watched the house all day, and
saw no light or heard any person until the Monday, when I
saw Mr. Key come with the undertaker. On the New Year's
Day, when she came home in the evening, the prisoner beat
him, and threatened that if he showed himself out again, she
would kick his life out. I distinctly heard the prisoner say,
1 I'll tear your eyes out, you old devil,' and then 1 heard blows
and a sound as if a stick was being used. The deceased fell
on the floor and cried and groaned. She beat him so violently
that I think he was past doing anything. She then made him
lie down on the sofa, and said she should leave him, and he
begged her not to do so. She went out at half-past six, lock-
ing him up, and then she was intoxicated.

Mrs. Annie Gray, a respectable married female, said : The
house I lived in was next door to the late Mr. Jones's, but that
house was left on the 6th of December last. I knew Mr. Jones
well, but never had a conversation with him but twice. The
first time, in July, I told him 1 was sorry to see him so poorly
and infirm, and added that it was a pity to see him in the state
he was in. His reply to me then was, ' I am a miserable man.'
I told him that if he wanted anything, and tapped at the wall,
I would render him all the assistance in my power. 1 have
often heard cries in the house of the deceased. Mr. Jones and

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

221

the prisoner used to have serious disputes about money mat-
ters. I have heard the latter say, ' Give me the money and
let me go.' At other times I heard her beat the old man. The
deceased used to say to her, 'Don't leave me.' I distinctly
heard the sound of a slap on the face which the prisoner gave
the deceased. I have frequently heard them quarrel, and
heard the deceased utter the cries of ' murder ' on two or three
occasions. The first time I heard these cries was in the month
of July, I think, and on that occasion my husband heard them
as well as myself, and he spoke to a policeman about it. The
next time I heard the cries of ' murder ' was in the latter end
of November. About that time they were quarrelling almost
daily, and I then heard the sound of blows. In one of these
quarrels I heard the prisoner say 1 Give me the money and let
me go,' and his reply was, 1 Don't leave me ; I cannot lose you.'
She then asked him how he dared to go to Mr. Key ? The
old man not answering her, I heard several blows and groans,
as if they came from a person in intense agony. I have seen
gentlemen apply for admission, but refused. I have let gen-
tlemen over the wall of mv garden, on their telling me that the
prisoner would not let them in, though I knew she was in at
the time. This was in the month of October. They rang the
bell, and Mr. Jones came out to speak to them, and said he
could not admit them. They were nephews of the deceased,
and said they particularly wished to take Mr. Jones away, as
they understood his life was in danger.

Miss Maria Hammond, who also lived next door to the de-
ceased, detailed at some length the particulars of what she saw
and heard of the prisoner and the deceased. She said that on
the night on which Mr. Jones died, she was much disturbed by
the quarrelling between the prisoner and the deceased. In
the course of the night she was awoke by one of these quar-
rels. From the voices she could distinctly tell that there were
only the prisoner and the deceased in the room (the back
parlor; at the time. Distinctly heard the prisoner talk angrily,
and heard the deceased say, ' Oh, what do you say V Imme-
diately after this she heard a heavy fall ou the floor, and this
was followed by a perfect death-like silence, during which wit-
ness did not hear even a breathing or whisper. This was
broken by the prisoner opening the door and admitting, as the
witness believed, some persons to her assistance, as she could
distinctly hear several voices ; and, for the remaining part of
the morning, the noises from the room appeared to be most
unpleasant.
19*

222

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Mr. Elliott : ' What did this noise resemble ?'
Witness : ' The scratching and scraping of the floor with a
shovel.'

Police constable, John Grant, 170 P, said that on the morn-
ing of the 10th of January, he was on duty in Acre-lane,
Brixton, and at about five o'clock in the morning he saw the
prisoner come out of the house of Air. Jones, and go in at the
gate of a person named Evans, which was three doors off. He
wished her 'good morning,' but she made him no reply. She
appeared to him to have been drinking, and seemed much
frightened. He saw no more of her that morning.

Mr. Wm. Jones, 155 Tottenham-court-road, said — 1 The de-
ceased, Mr. Wm. Jones, was my uncle. In the month of August
last, I visited at his late residence, and on my entering the
bouse I found him shaving himself, and could see that he had
marks of serious violence on his face. I asked him how he
had received them, upon which he exclaimed, 1 Hush, hush,
she's in the next room ; I can't tell you now, but will presently.'
The door of the next room was opened, and the prisoner, who
must have heard my question, entered the room where we were,
and my uncle seemed so nervous about it that I did not press
the question a second time, as the prisoner took care not to
leave us alone, or give us an opportunity. I have made four
or five attempts to see my uncle, but could not, as the prisoner
would not admit me inside the house, or to his presence.'

Mr. Elliott having announced his intention of sending the
case before a jury, the witnesses were bound over to prosecute,
but the prisoner was remanded. She left the bar with a*ca4'e^
lessness amounting to levity. ?

The police officers, in searching the house of the late Mr.\
Jones, found the will of the deceased, from which it appears*
that the property amounts to £3000, and that, after bequeath-
ing £200 a piece to two of his nephews, £100 to a third, and"
£300 to Mr. David Key, his medical adviser, he left the resi-
due, with his furniture, to his housekeeper, Elizabeth Yickers
— at present in custody; so that, after paying the funeral
and other expenses, she would be entitled to over £2000.
The reports of the inquest having disclosed that Yickers
was a legatee, last Monday's post brought a letter addressed
to her (now in the hands of the police), of which the follow-
ing is a copy : —

1 Coventry, January 29.
• Madam, — I have taken the Liberty of writing these few
lines hoping that It will not give any offence. I have applied

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

223

to you has I am In want of a good domesticated "Wife, and
no doubt has you have lost your Master No doubt but what
you should Like a good home and a good partner and If you
think any thing- about It Please to let me know by the return
of Post and Please to let me know Particulars I mentioned
that Ins to ask you your age To Se If they will correspond
with mine for My Age his 40 Though I have seen you once or
twice. And you Perhaps dont know Me But if you answer
this immediately you will Soon Se me If you are not engaged
with any one.

1 1 Remain yours Respectfully,

C. H , Coventry.

1 My address his this Mr cutler Street Coventry

War.'"— Weekly Dispatch, Feb. toh, 1853.

Is it not enough to try the nerves of as stout a man as
you are, Major, to think of what that aged and helpless
sufferer endured during those dreadful days and nights
when he was piteously, and like a child, trembling, cry-
ing, and begging, under the torments of that she-devil?
Uncle' Tom and his persecutors are fictions ; and this peo-
ple, men, women, and children, are weeping over these
fictions, supposed to have happened in the far-off valley
of the Mississippi, whilst they have no tears to shed over
the facts here related, and which expose the hell of tor-
ture to which this old gentleman was subjected in this
city of London, by a monster as odious as Legree. In-
deed, if he thus called Legree were anything but a fig-

' ment in the imagination of a shrewd Yankee woman, I
should certainly apologize to him for the comparison I
have made. His victim had no such claims upon his

% mercy as had this old man upon his destroyer. His vic-
tim, though represented as innocent and inoffensive, was
not, from years, infirmities, and habit, so entirely depend-
ent upon him as was this sufferer upon his persecutor ;
nor had the slave-master been indebted to his victim for
striking benefits and favors. Such are the thoughts that
passed through my mind when I read this account ; and
I think you will agree with me that they were natural
and reasonable.

On a subsequent day, this woman was again brought
before the magistrate, and I send you a report of what
transpired then and there.

224

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD \ OR,

"THE ALLEGED MURDER AT BRIXTON.

On Tuesday, Elizabeth Tickers, late housekeeper to Mr.
William Jones,- of Springfield cottages, Brixton, and who
stood remanded for the willful murder of her late master, was
again placed at the bar of the Lambeth police court, before
Mr. Elliott, for final examination.

Mr. Ebsworth, from the office of Messrs. Scadding and Son,
Gordon square, who were for mahy years solicitors to the de-
ceased, and are at present employed by his nephew, attended
for the prosecution ; and Mr. Solomon for the defence ; the
court was much crowded.

Sergeant George Quinnear, P. 1, deposed that, since the
prisoner's last examination, he, accompanied by his super-
intendent, Mr. Lund, visited the late residence of the deceased
(Mr. Jones), for the purpose of making a more minute search
of the things in the house. On examining the couch in the
back parlor, on which the deceased was represented to have
died, they found stains of blood on the lining at the top, or
head part.

Mr. Elliott : How came you to see the lining ?

Sergeant Quinnear : The horsehair covering, your worship,
was \yorn away, and the stains of blood were visible on the
canvass that remained. There was a small bed placed on this
couch, and on two places in this bed marks of blood were
quite visible.

The prisoner here, in a most vehement and violent manner,
exclaimed, 'No, no ! I say no.'

Sergeant Quinnear : On removing a colored cotton case
from a pillow used on the couch, and turning it inside out, we
found evident marks of blood on it, which it had been endeavored
to remove by washing, but which were, notwithstanding, still
quite observable.

Prisoner (vehemently) : They are not stains of blood, but
of porter.

Quinnear : On searching among the dirty linen, heaps of
which were in all parts of the house, we found another sheet
witli stains of blood on it, and this we have taken away with
the pillowcase. We searched the house very carefully, and
could find no money, though, from inquiries I have made, I
have reason to believe that a short time before, the deceased,
Mr. Jones, had received i.'28 odd, the amount of his dividends.
The only sum found was £\ 6s. 6d., which was on the person
of the prisoner when she was taken into custody. Since the

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

225

last examination I have seen a man named Collins, a gardener,
who had been examined before the coroner's jury, and who, on
being so examined, swore that he had seen the deceased fall in
his own garden, when his head came with some violence against
the wall. I have asked this person to point out the spot where
he saw the deceased fall, and he has done so ; but it is my
opinion that, from his description, it is quite impossible, if he
even had fallen there, that he could have hit his head against
the wall or injured himself.

Mr. Solomon objected to this hearsay- evidence, and the
opinion founded upon it being placed on the depositions.

Mr. Elliott admitted that it was not strictly evidence, and,
therefore, would not appear on the depositions. The solicitor
engaged for the prosecution might call Collins if he thought
proper. To Sergeant Quinnear : Have you anything further
to say ? — Quinnear : Only this, your worship ; that Jthe pri-
soner bears a shocking character in the neighborhood, and has
been frequently led home quite drunk by different and strange
men.

Mr. Solomon : That forms no part of the charge against
her.

Sergeant Quinnear : Well, I have only to add, that we found
the house in a shocking state. In fact, it stank most offen-
sively— heaps of soiled and half-washed clothes were in every
part of it, and in my opinion not a single article had been
washed there for five or six months.

Prisoner : How do you know that ?

Quinnear : I was told it by Miss Allen, who informed me
that for several months she has not observed a single article
hung out to dry.

Prisoner : Miss Allen had better mind her own business.

John Neale, shopman to Mr. Eillmer, pawnbroker, in Ken-
nington road, opposite Kennington common, deposed, that the
silver snuff-box, the silver watch, and other articles he then
produced, had been pawned with him at his master's, on the
13th of last month, for £3, by the prisoner. She then gave
the name of Elizabeth Vickers, and her residence in Acre lane,
Brixton.

Prisoner : I did pawn the things, and the property is my
own, though Jones may swear to it, if he dares. The articles
were purchased for and presented to me. (The prisoner here
became so vehement and violent, that her own solicitor had to
beg of her to be quiet, assuring her that by her conduct she
was doing herself much mischief;.

226

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Mr. William Jones, the nephew of the deceased, next grot
into the witness box, and, when sworn, said that, to the best
of his belief, the watch and other articles produced belonged
to his uncle.

Prisoner : Then you have sworn to a lie. They are mine ;
and therefore you have taken a false oath. The snuff-box
was given to me by your uncle, and also the watch ai d other
things.

The prisoner was here asked in the usual manner if she had
anything to say to the charge, and Mr. Solomon replied in the
negative. Upon which Mr. Elliott committed her to take her
trial at the Central Criminal Court, for the wilful murder of
her late master, Mr. William Jones." — Observer, February
lUh, 1853.

I will continue the subject in my next; and in the
mean time, am,

Kespectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTER XXIV.

MURDER ON THE niGHWAY IN ESSEX INQUEST ON THE BODY

— CONFESSION OF THE MURDERER — DREADFUL MURDER IN
DEVONSHIRE ATROCIOUS MURDER AT WAKEFIELD.

London, November 29th, 1853.

Dear Major : — On Tuesday, the 8th day of February,
in the present year, at about nine o'clock in the morning,
a foot passenger was murdered on one of the high-roads
of one of the metropolitan counties, within nine miles of
the heart of London, and under circumstances of shock-
ing barbarity. The murdered man was on his way to the
railroad station at Ilford, it seems. There were at least

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

227

two witnesses of the deed, and yet, to use the language
of a paper from which I shall presently send you an ac-
count of the murder, " Strange to say, though the ter-
rible crime was perpetrated in open day, the murderer did
not escape, only, as it were, by a miracle. For a full
hour, the criminal was missing ; and then he was arrested
only by an accident. If he had passed by the direct road
to the metropolis, he would in that period have attained
the outskirts of town, and would have soon been lost to
pursuit in the streets and alleys of Whitechapel. As it
was, it would appear that he missed his road, and, like a
doomed man, made a rotary or circular movement, which
brought him back again to the presence of the corpse of
his victim. Then he was secured."
Here is a report of the case :

"DARING MURDER ON THE HIGHWAY TN ESSEX — APPREHEN-
SION OF THE MURDERER.

A most appalling murder was committed on Tuesday morn-
ing, on the turnpike road between London and Romford. The
unfortunate victim was a very respectable and worthy man,
named Toller, a commission agent, who resided with his wife
and four children on Ghadwell Heath, near Romford, for several
years. 3Ir. Toller was in the practice of visiting London almost
daily on business. He left his home on Tuesday morning at
eight o'clock, with the intention, it is believed, of walking to
Ilford, and taking the train for London. About fifteen or
twenty minutes before nine o'clock, he was met on the high
road by an ill-looking tramp, whose intention, no doubt, was to
rob the unfortunate man. The fellow struck Mr. Toller a vio-
lent blow on the head with a stick, which caused him to stagger.
Mr. Toller called out for assistance, and his cries attracted the
attention of a man and his wife at work in an adjoining field,
who saw the murderer strike Mr. Toller repeatedly with the
stick. They called out to the man to desist, and hastened to-
wards the road ; but, before , they could reach the end of the
field, they saw the ruffian take a clasp knife from his pocket,
with which he deliberately cut the throat of his victim, and
nearly severed his hea^ r'rom his body. The murderer imme-
diately fled. The man and his wife in the field were, to use
their own words, so horrified at the deed they had just wit-
nessed, that they made no effort to pursue the murderer, who

228

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

made his way towards London. They, however, gave imme-
diate information to the first police constable they met with,
and soon afterwards Mr. Howie, the superintendent of the K
division of police, rode into Ilford, and, on being informed of
the murder, gave directions to a number of mounted and dis-
mounted police officers to pursue the murderer, who, singularly
enough, after the commission of the horrible act, lost his way,
and being unacquainted with the road, made a detour and came
back to within three hundred yards of the spot where he com-
mitted the murder. He was immediately pointed out by the
man Willis, who saw the murder committed, and was at once
taken into custody by Metcalf, 142 K., who handcuffed him,
and proceeded with him to the station-house at Ilford. A few
hours afterwards Mr. Howie procured the attendance of Mr.
Octavius Mashiter, a county magistrate, and the prisoner, who
gave the name of Charles Saunders, was formally arraigned
before the justice, and charged with the wilful murder of Mr.
Toller. Willis and his wife identified Saunders, and detailed
the circumstances of the murder. Metcalf also gave evidence
of the prisoner's apprehension, and Mr. Mashiter remanded
him to Ilford gaol until Saturday (yesterday ).

It appears from inquiries made by Mr. Superintendent Howie
that Saunders is a native of Mortlake, in Surrey, where he is
well known. He is a heavy-looking, repulsive fellow, about 32
years of age, and 5 feet 4 inches in height. The deceased
would have proved more than a match for him if he had not
first struck him with a stick on the back of the head.

The scene of this tragical occurrence is 8^ miles from White-
chapel Church, and 3 miles from Romford." — Observer, Feb.
Uth, 1853.

Eevolve in your mind for a moment the awful brutality
of this bloody scene, and you will readily agree with the
following remarks, made by the editor of the " Observer,"
(and in the same paper from which I have taken the above
account,) viz.:

u That it is a remarkable fact that in a country so highly
civilized as England, with a police and with a priesthood which
costs an enormous annual sum to maintain, such a crime could
not only be conceived but committed, within hail of at least
two workingmen, in the full light of day, and upon the high-
way of perhaps the most populous road leading into or out of
this metropolis. The culprit it seems made a sort of confes-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

229

sion that he murdered his victim not through the cravings of
want, but with the object of revenge — to avenge himself for
some real or fancied wrong on a former occasion long past — a
wrong, even on his own admission, of the slightest character.
How little this speaks for the Gospel teaching of the State
Church, with its cloud of parsons and its bands of missionaries,
the reader must and will easily imagine. Xo doubt crime has
existed, and it is possible that crime will continue to exist,
though wise and good men hold to the. contrary ; but hitherto
it has. been associated with motives of cupidity on such occa-
sions as this, and the introduction of the principle of vengeance
is a new feature in the common criminal annals of this country.
It cannot be questioned, however, that if the Church spent its
revenues, not upon the shepherds, but upon the flock — if, in a
word, education was made general — such a scene of barbarity
as that which took place on this occasion would never have
been committed."

On one point, however, I must take issue with this
writer. I refer to his assertion that " the principle of
vengeance is a new feature in the common criminal annals
of this country." I think what I have shown, and have
yet to show you, will prove this declaration to be a pro-
digious error.

In the same paper from which I have taken the last
report, I find the following account of a terrible murder
in Devonshire :

u DREADFUL MURDER IN DEVONSHIRE CONFESSION OF THE

MURDERER.

On Sunday morning a shocking murder was committed near
a little village called Clayhidon, about ten miles from Honiton,
in Devonshire, and about five miles from Wellington, in Somer-
set. The victim was a respectable land surveyor and miller,
residing at Clayhidon Mills, named William Blackmore. He
was also the collector of taxes,for the parish, and was much
esteemed in the neighborhood. He was 53 years of age, was
married, and had one grown-up son. He had been out col-
lecting tithes on Saturday, and in the evening he went into a
roadside public house, called the White Horse, near Clayhidon,
where he drank freely in company with three laboring men.
They all left the public house together about one o'clock on
20

230

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Sunday morning, and at four o'clock the body of Mr. Black-
more was found about a quarter of a mile from his own house
by his son and a servant man, stretched across the road in a
dreadfully mangled state. The head was severely fractured,
and there was blood scattered about the road. His purse,
containing two five-pound notes, was found in the road by his
side. The three men who left the house with the deceased
were laborers, named George Sparks, Edmund Sparks* and
James Hitchcock. They were taken into custody.

An inquest was held on Monday, at the Half Moon Inn,
Clayhidon, before R. H. Aberdein, Esq., coroner for the district.

Ann Redwood, the landlady of the White Horse public
house, stated that between seven and eight o'clock on Satur-
day evening, the deceased came into her house, and called for
a pint of beer. The three prisoners and two other men were
there ; but the latter two left shortly afterwards. The deceased
sat by the fire, and complained that he had been drinking some
ale at farmer Warren's, and it had upset his stomach. He then
drank three pints of Mrs. Redwood's ale, and said it was much
better than farmer Warren's. The three prisoners asked the
deceased to treat them, and he did contribute towards a quart
of cider, saying he had only half a crown in the world. (In
the pockets of deceased two five-pound notes were found, and
it was known that he had other money, the produce of his tithe
collection). Subsequently the deceased played at cards with
George Sparks, and beat him. After that the prisoners and
the deceased drank several quarts of ale, with brandy and sugar
in it. When the deceased said 'he had only half-a-crown in
the world,' James Hitchcock said, ' You needn't be afeard of us,
maister — I won't rob he.' George Sparks said, 'Master isn't
afeard of us, I know.' The deceased answered, 4 JNTo, be gums !'
Just before leaving the house, James Hitchcock and George
Sparks went out of the room ; and after staying a few minutes
returned again. About one o'clock on the Sunday morning,
they all left together.

J. Marks, a laborer, deposed to having met the three pri-
soners and the deceased between one and two o'clock on the
Sunday morning in the road leading to their house — the pri-
soners lived in the same dircefton as the deceased. After a
salutation they passed on. Edmund Sparks was walking by
the side of the deceased, and George Sparks and James Hitch-
cock were walking behind.

George IJraddick, a constable, apprehended the prisoners
the same morning, just before daylight George Sparks lodged

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

231

with his brother, about half a mile from the deceased's resi-
dence ; and when he went to him he was in bed. He denied
any knowledge of the crime at first. The witness then re-
quested him to put on the same clothes as he wore that morn-
ing, and he did so. On the waistcoat were spots of blood. On
searching the house ten sovereigns and a half were found
wrapped up in a rag. Whilst the witness was engaged in
searching the house, several people came in and put sundry
questions to the prisoner. At last he exclaimed, ' It's no use
to cure, nor to think any more about it ; for I would as soon
tell the whole of it as not.' The prisoner then got up from
his seat, took up a pair of tongs, and showing the position in
which he stood, said, ' I struck him back-handed, and I think
I killed him the first blow, but I struck him twice after that.'
lie further said he struck him with a part of a pair of fire-
toiigs which he brought away with him from the White Horse,
and which was subsequently found in the water at the spot in-
dicated by the prisoner.

The prisoner, George Sparks, fully exonerated the other pri-
soners in his confession ; and they severally declared that they
left the deceased by a French nut-tree, aud went to their homes.
The only suspicious circumstances in respect to Hitchcock
were, that on his great-coat, which he wore, there were spots
like blood ; but there was difference of opinion as to whether
it really was blood. Footmarks, corresponding with his boots,
were also discovered near to where the body was found. There
was no evidence against Edmund Sparks, further than his
being in the company of the others at the public house, and
being seen wTith them on his road home.

Mr. William Buncombe, surgeon, described the nature of
the injuries inflicted on the head of the deceased. In his
opinion the injuries were such as wrere likely to have been
produced by the instrument alluded to, viz. : the part of the
tongs which George Sparks confessed to have taken from the
White Horse.

The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against George
Sparks aud James Hitchcock, and they were at once committed
for trial." — Observer*, February 14th, 1853.

You have, in this case, an exemplification not only of
that thirst for blood so remarkable in this country, but
specimens and illustrations of manners, language, and
civilization in no wise superior to what is met with in

232

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

wild and lawless frontier regions. And all this, you will
observe, occurs in one of the most highly favored coun-
ties of England — in "rich and fruitful Devonshire."

About the same time, an atrocious murder of a woman
by a man was committed at Wakefield, in Yorkshire.
Here is a statement of the particulars :

"ATROCIOUS MURDER AT WAKEFIELD.

A murder has been committed at Wakefield. The perpe-
trator of the crime was speedily apprehended, and unhesita-
tingly confessed his guilt. The victim of the foul deed is a
girl named Catherine Sheardon, a dissolute person, living in
the house of Ann Clough, generally known as 'Farmer Ann,'
and the murderer is a man named Henry Dobson, a cabinet-
maker, about 24 years of age. For a considerable time past
Dobson has cohabited with the deceased, whom he has latterly
treated very ill. Deceased applied to the magistrates for pro-
tection, and on the 10th inst. he was bound over to keep the
peace. Exasperated by this, he had been heard several times
to threaten deceased with murder, and on Thursday night he
was observed by some of Sheardon's companions to be anx-
iously watching for her. They being alarmed kept Sheardon
in their company. On Friday night, however, soon after 11
o'clock, he managed to obtain admission into deceased's room,
during the temporary absence of Clough, the occupier of the
house, and, on Clough's return, she found the unfortunate girl
lying on the floor of the room in the basement of the building,
quite dead and weltering in blood. A razor covered with
blood was found on the floor, and in one of deceased's hands
was the street-door key. On her right arm was the mark of a
violent blow, but on no other part of her person was there any
evidence of violence having been used towards her. It is sup-
posed, from the position in which the body was lying, that the
murderer had knocked at the door and been admitted by the
deceased without her knowing it was him, for she had kept the
door locked for the purpose of preventing his admission. The
tragedy must have taken place within a very short time, as
Clough asserts she was not absent from her house more than
twenty minutes. Within an hour Dobson was apprehended in
Jacob's Well-lane, about a quarter of a mile from the scene
of the murder. His left hand was covered with blood, and a
slight cut of about an inch in diameter was discovered on the

BILLY BUCK S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

233

second joint of his thumb, evidently made by some extremely
Bharp instrument. On the right side of his coat were marks
of blood ; and these circumstances corroborated the supposi-
tion that the prisoner had his arm round deceased's neck when
he inflicted the wound on her, and it is believed the same struck
his own hand. The marks on the right side of the coat are
accounted for by his hand falling after his purpose was accom-
plished. His apron also bore marks of blood. The prisoner,
while on the way to the station-house, -asked repeatedly if the
girl was dead, and, on being told she wa>, replied, 'And I have
it — what more do you want V He further added, ' You are a
pretty set of devils, you police ; I have been within twenty
yards of the place all the time.' He also stated that he had
kicked deceased violently. Prisoner was much excited, and
appeared to have been drinking ; he was not, however, drunk.
He appeared to have no idea of the awful position in which he
had placed himself, and passed his time in his cell in singing,
&c. The girl was about twenty years of age, and, we hear,
was a native of Doncaster. She was small in stature even for
a woman, and extremely thin. She was principally known to
the police under the soubriquet of 1 Kitty.' The deceased had
been drinking with the prisoner often since she had him bound
over to keep the peace towards her, but she had not lived with
him for some short time. Dobson is the son of Thomas Dob-
son, landlord of the Coach and Horses Beer House, Union
street. He was by trade a cabinet-maker. He is slightly
built, about five feet five inches in height, and his face is much
marked with the small-pox. He was a, man of vicious propen-
sities, and had been married to a girl of the town, who died
about six months since. An inquest on the body of the mur-
dered girl has been held, at which a verdict of ' wilful murder '
against Henry Dobson was returned. The prisoner's demeanor
continues hardened and careless. Two officers have been in
the cell with him ever since his arrest, and during the night it
appears he kept up, when awake, a continued conversation in
reference to the bloody deed. After awaking from one of his
sleeps he said, in reference to the bench or form upon which
he was laid, 1 This is a very hard bed ! if Kitty' (meaning the

deceased) 'has not a softer, she will be d badly off.' And

in a few minutes he said, in an affectionate tone, 'Ah, bless
her; I hope she is now in heaven and happy.' At another
time he said, with much bravado, 'Well, I know my fate, and
I suppose I have not above another fortnight to live.'" —
News of the World, Feb. 27, 1853.
20*

234

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

This man was subsequently tried, convicted, and hanged
at York for this offence.

But I must allow you a breathing-spell, or you will
never be able to go through the ghastly gallery which we
have yet to traverse, and to inspect. So I write myself
at once,

Eespectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of xlmerica.

LETTER XXV.

ILL-TREATMENT AND MURDER OF WIVES — SUSPECTED MURDER

OF A WIFE BY STARVATION THE BATH STARVATION CASE

MURDER OF A WIFE IN MARYLEBONE — THE PROCEEDINGS

BEFORE THE COMMITTING MAGISTRATE ARE ATTENDED BY
DR. JONES AND HIS SERVANT — A WITNESS WHO KNEW NO-
THING OF GOD, AND HAD N KVER HEARD OF THE DEVIL 4k
BUCK PROPOSES TO SEND A MISSIONARY TO THIS WITNESS*

NEIGHBORHOOD TRIAL OF THE MURDERER BEFORE THE

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

London, December 1st, 1853.

Dear Major : — As early as the year 1851, my atten-
tion was called by the paper which I daily read, to the
great prevalence of violence on the part of men towards
women in this country, and especially to the number of
murders committed by husbands upon wives. I furnish
you with an extract of the editorial article to which I have
referred. It contains, as you will see, a condensed state-
ment of several cases which had then recently occurred :

"ILL-TREATMENT AND MURDER OF WIVES.

In his recent charge to the grand jury at t lie opening of the
Central Criminal Court, the Recorder said — 'He was sorry

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

235

that he could not congratulate them on the lightness of the
calendar ; for, although it did not contain any charge of mur-
der, yet he was sorry to see that there were several charges
of manslaughter, and also a great number of cases of personal
violence ; and it was very much to be regretted that, in a
great majority of the cases, the violence was committed by
men upon the persons of those whom they were bound to love
and protect — namely, upon their wives.' It is well that Mr.
Wortley should have said thus much — .little though it was —
on this disgraceful subject ; and it is to be hoped that the feel-
ings which dictated his brief remarks will still be in operation
when, in the course of the next few days, it may become his
duty to pass sentence on cases of this description. But he
need not have confined his observation to the present sessions ;
for every sessions, every assizes, afford proof of the lamentable
prevalence of this class of crimes, and of the impunity, or next
to impunity, with which they are passed by. Within these few
days we have recorded, almost simultaneously, four cases of
men tried, or committed for trial, on the charge of killing their
wives ; and among these the case of i'dmund Curtis stood con-
spicuous, both in atrocity and in the flagrant inadequacy of
the punishment, The wife,' an industrious woman, had passed
the day in working as a charwoman, to earn money for the hus-
band. In the evening, according to the testimony of the woman
for whom she worked, he came to the house, and the wife
'spoke to him, desiring him to come home. He refused. She
said his place was at home, and he said, ' So is yours.' They
then both left the room. He was sober. After they left the
house — about three minutes after — I heard a violent shriek.
I went out, and saw her lying across a low iron railing in my
garden. He had hold of her over the left shoulder with his
right hand, and was striking her on the head with his clenched
fist. "When I got out the shriek had ceased. I heard no noise
after. I told him he would kill her, if he had not done so,
and desired him to loose her. He did not do so. I called out
William Kirkland, who pulled him from her, and she fell on
her left side on the ground, apparently lifeless. I told him he
had killed her. I called assistance. She was lifted up and
put in a chair. She fetched three sighs and died.' These
were the facts; and now for Mr. Baron Martin and his judg-
ment. He said that nothing could justify a man in striking a
woman; that the prisoner 'indulged in a very violent degree
of passion,' but that he could ' well believe' that he 1 did not
mean to kill her;' that 'no doubt, when this result occurred,'

236

THE SLAVEHOLDER, ABROAD; OR,

lie was 'sincerely sorry for it;' and that, 'considering all the
circumstances,' the 'justice of the case' would be satisfied by
imprisoning him for six months with hard labor ! Such are
the judgments which are to protect all the women of the coun-
try against domestic ruffianism ; and such is the caprice which
presides over the apportionment of penalties in English criminal
justice. The day afterwards, in a case not more atrocious, the
culprit was sentenced by the same judge to transportation for
life. If Curtis had killed, in any similar manner, some other
man's wife instead of his own — instead of the woman whom,
as Mr. Wortley said, he was bound to protect — there can be
little doubt that he would have been indicted for murder, and
probably hanged. The vow to protect thus confers a license
to kill.

Two of the cases adverted to in the Recorder's charge have
since come on for trial before Mr. Justice Wightman. In one,
the prisoner was acquitted on the ground of insanity. In the
case of Andrew Maclean, also, the culprit was acquitted. The
report says, ' Early in the morning of August 4, the persons
lodging in the next room were disturbed by the cries of the
prisoner's children, and their calling out, ' Oh, father, let mother
down.' They got up in consequence, and went into the pri-
soner's room, where they found his wife hanging by the neck
from the cupboard, and the prisoner was sitting upon the bed.
The body of the unfortunate woman was quite suspended, and
she was nearly black in the face. Upon the prisoner being
told that he was a good-for-nothing villain for attempting to
hang his wife, he replied that he would do it effectually the
next time ; and one of the witnesses answered that he would
have done it eifectually this time, if his wife had not been cut
down. The prisoner was slightly intoxicated, it appeared, at
the time of the occurrence. The prisoner, in his defence, as-
serted that his wife had hanged herself.'

The wife was not called as a witness, the reason of which
appears from the previous examination before the magistrate
— on which occasion the unfortunate creature, either from
habitual fear, or from the expectation that she would be given
back into his power, exculpated the man, stating that she had
spoken provokingly to him, and also that lie had hanged her
only in jest. Her dread of appearing against him was not sur-
prising: for what would have been the consequence to her of
having given strong evidence against him, in the event of his
acquittal ? Bat her testimony was not needed to show the
state of the case, after proof of such facts as those contained

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

237

in the above extract. Yet ' Mr. Justice Wightman, in sum-
ming up, said that the case was undoubtedly left in some ob-
scurity by the absence of the wife's testimony. If she had
been called, she could have proved distinctly how the matter
occurred ; and in the face of the prisoner's declaration that
his wife had hung herself, it was for the jury to say whether
the other evidence was sufficient to justify them in convicting
him of so serious an offence.' On this encouragment the jury
returned a verdict of not guilty ; and consequently the woman
is again given into the power of the man, that he may, as he
threatened, 'do it effectually the next time.' We scarcely be-
lieve that there is an offence in the whole criminal code of
which a prisoner would have been acquitted, in the face of such
evidence, except that of an attempt at wife murder.

In default of the judges, it is for the Legislature to apply
vigorous measures of repression to this growing evil." — Ob-
server, September 1st, 1851.

I think you will discover from the exhibits which I
shall make before leaving the subject, that this disease is
too deeply seated in the constitution of the English people,
to be remedied by those " vigorous measures of repression
by the legislature" to which this writer referred.

In the early part of the same year; some cases of wife-
murder from starvation, enforced by their husbands, were
reported. Can yrou by possibility conceive such a devilish
fact ? Below you will find in a succinct form some refe-
rences to such cases :

"SUSPECTED MURDER OF A WIFE.

Gloucester, Thursday. — A man named Daniel Mundy has
been brought to the Gloucester county jail, under the warrant
of W. J. Ellis, Esq., coroner for the county, on a charge of
the wilful murder of his wife. The deceased and the prisoner
lived at Wotton-under-edge, in this county, and the former had
for some time past been in a delicate state of health. Her
husband had been in the habit of cruelly beating and kicking
her, and keeping her on a miserably short allowance of food,
and while he himself lived well; bread and water-was the poor
woman's principal diet. The deceased died on the 24th of
February last, rather suddenly, and an inquest was held on the
body, as a matter of form, on the 28th, when no suspicion of
foul conduct being entertained, a verdict of ' died from natural

238

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR;

causes' was returned. The prisoner refused to bury her, and
that circumstance, together with the rumors which now began
to spread through the neighborhood respecting his cruel con-
duct towards her during her lifetime, led to further inquiries,
which resulted in the re-opening of the inquest. At the last
inquiry several of the neighbors were examined. Some deposed
that the prisoner beat his wife ' in common with other hus-
bands;' but the niece of the deceased proved that Mrs. Mundy
had complained to her of her husband's cruelty, and had shown
her her arms and legs, which were black and blue with bruises.
She also told her that she was nearly starved, having nothing
to eat but coarse brown bread, without anything with it.
Daniel Workman, another of Mundy's neighbors, spoke to the
fact of the prisoner having beaten his wife with a stick. On
the day of her decease this witness saw Mrs. Mundy near her
own house, in a stooping position, with her hands on her
bowels, and on asking her what was the matter, she said it
was where he kicked her — meaning her husband. Jane Dyer,
who laid out the body, found bruises on the neck and bowels.
Mr. Adams, surgeon, also deposed that he found an injury of
the neck, attended with congestion of the brain of very recent
date. Also an extensive injury of the abdomen, as if from a
blow or kick, either of which was sufficient to cause death.
The jury, after a short deliberation, returned a verdict of
wilful murder against the husband."

"THE BATH STARVATION CASE.

The husband of Harriet Sparing, who died from starvation
at Bath, has been apprehended and lodged in the Bath jail, to
await his trial at the ensuing assizes on the charge of wilful
murder. The prisoner, on hearing that an inquest was to be
held on his wife, absconded, and succeeded for some time in
evading the vigilance of the police. It appears that he went
to Bristol, and for some days lodged with Mr. Bence, a publi-
can, under the name of Edward Woodman, but was very re-
served, and kept himself remarkably quiet. He then enlisted
in the thirtieth Regiment of the line, and on Wednesday was
sent o(F to Kent, with other recruits. Mr. Bence having sub-
sequently seen a description of Sparing in the Hue and (Yy,
suspected his late lodger to be the man, and immediately gn\ <>
Information to the chief of the Bath police. An officer, ac-
companied by Mr. Bence, was despatched in search of the pri-
soner, whom they found enjoying his dinner in \V aimer Bar-
racks Kent, but on seeing the officer he became much frightened

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

239

and trembled violently. He was at once brought back, and
lodged in the Bath jail, under the coroner's warrant." — Ob-
server, March 11th, 1851.

I perceive that in the first of the two cases above men-
tioned, personal violence was resorted to, and might have
been in part the cause of death. Do you not feel it a mor-
tification, that you should belong to a common humanity
with the atrocious scoundrel who could so treat that help-
less and forlorn sufferer ? And are you not thankful that
yon are not the countryman of the cowardly miscreant ?
Observe, if you please, the matter-of-fact way with which
the witnesses deposed that the prisoner beat his wife only
"in common with other husbands!" It was truly not
without reason that the editor whom I have quoted above,
declared that in this country " the vow to protect confers
a license to kill."

On Tuesday, the 11th day of November, 1851, I left
my lodgings for the purpose of visiting the Royal Botanic
Gardens, in the Regent's Park, taking my servant along
with me. As we were passing in the vicinity of the Mary-
lebone police-station, our attention was drawn to a vehicle
in which a prisoner was being placed, and which was sur-
rounded by a noisy crowd of men, women, and children.
We soon learned that the accused was charged with hav-
ing murdered his wife, and was about to be taken before
a magistrate for examination ; and that the excitement
which we observed grew out of the strong indignation
which the circumstances of his case created. The mob
were uttering terrible denunciations of the prisoner, and
their fury rather surprised me (knowing, as I now did,
how common wife-murder was in the country, and how
much tolerated), and I could only attribute this result to
the stimulus which was imparted by the circulation of
petticoats among them pretty freely, whose owners were
very ardent in their cries for vengeance. Lynch law was
also threatened ; but there seemed to be no spirit present
daring enough to take the lead in a demonstration of that
kind, and the police took very proper measures for the
prevention of any such attempt. We joined ourselves to
the crowd which accompanied the cab in which the pri-

240

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD \ OR,

soner was placed, as I was anxious to see the end of the
affair, and to hear more of the circumstances. "With
some difficulty, we obtained a position in the court from
which we could witness the proceedings.

I send you a report of the Case, taken from a news-
paper, published shortly after.

"murder in marylebone.

On Tuesday, Thomas Bare, of 33 North street, Manchester
square, aged fifty, a pipemaker, was charged before Mr.
Broughton with the wilful murder of his wife, Louisa Bare.
The circumstances detailed exhibited features of peculiar
atrocity, the deceased having received sixteen stabs in different
parts of her body with a sharp-pointed file. At an early hour
in the morning the rumor of the event caused crowds to col-
lect around the Marylebone station house, where the prisoner
was confined, and the numbers increased to such an extent that
several constables were required to keep the thoroughfare clear.
In consequence of the extraordinary excitement prevailing, the
prisoner was conveyed in a cab, in which were Inspector Jack-
son, and two other officers. Whilst getting into the vehicle he
was hissed and yelled at by the mob, and the utmost efforts of
the police were necessary to protect him from summary ven-
geance. Hundreds followed the cab to the court, vociferating
that 'there was a murderer in it,' and, on arriving at the court,
to avoid the effects of the indignant feeling, the prisoner was
hurried through the passage, and closely watched by two
officers, prior to the case being called on. At two o'clock he
took his stand in the felon's dock, the court being then crowded
to excess. He is of sallow complexion, and was dressed in a
black coat, waistcoat, and drab trowsers. He betrayed no
emotion, and stood erect while the charge was stated to him
by the magistrate. The first witness called was —

George Nott, a furnishing undertaker, of No. 23 Cornwall
road, Lambeth. He said : Deceased was my sister. She mar-
ried the prisoner about twelve or fifteen years ago. They have
two children living. The deceased frequently complained to
me of her husband's ill-treatment. I last saw her alive about
a month ago, in Warner street, Oler ken well, where she then
lived. Between ten and eleven o'clock yesterday morning,
Inspector Jackson sent for me, and 1 went to her room in 33
North street, where I found her dead, lying upon the floor.
She had several punctures in the face, from some very sharp
instrument. She was about forty years old.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

211

Mr. Broughton (to the prisoner) : Do you wish to put ques-
tions to this witness? — Prisoner: No, I don't seem to care
much about it, but I'll ask you this, did she ever complain to
you in my presence of any ill-usage on my part ? Witness :
No, but she has often complained to me in your absence, and
has said that you were addicted to drinking and neglecting
your home. — Mr. Broughton : Where are her two children ?
Witness : I do not know. — Inspector Jackson: One, the
daughter, is outside. She is, I am sorry to say, upon the
streets. — Prisoner to witness : How long is it since your sister
first complained of my bad behavior ? Witness : Ever since
I have known you in London. The last time I saw her she
said you were never at home till one or two in the morning.
— Prisoner : And a good reason why. I generally worked till
that time. Do you know Mr. Thompson, a gasfitter; and did
you bury his wife ? Witness : Yes ; about twelve months ago.
— Prisoner : How came you to do that ? Witness : I was re-
commended to the job by my sister. — Prisoner : I do not wish
to ask you any more questions.

Edward Braston, aged seventeen, deposed that he lived with
his parents in Brook's-gardens, Bagnigge Wells road.

The magistrate questioned him as to his knowledge of the
nature and obligation of an oath, and the replies which he
gave evinced a most lamentable degree of ignorance. He
knew not where God was, could not tell where people went to
when they died, if they had lived a wicked life, nor had he ever
heard of the devil.

Mr. Broughton expressed pain and astonishment at the
neglect of this boy's education, and said that his evidence
could not be taken.

Mrs. Sarah Abrahams, mother of the lad above mentioned,
said : I am a widow, and the lad is my son by a former hus-
band. A woman named Hands and another woman lodged
four nights at my place, and both left on Friday fortnight.
My son carried some boxes away. On Monday last, the pri-
soner at the bar came to me, and asked if I had a little woman
lodging up stairs ? He could not tell her name, but said his
wife was with her. I said, 'Yes, there were two.' He ex-
claimed, ' Then that's my wife, and the boxes are mine ; she
took them away from me, and they are up stairs in your room.*
He asked to go up stairs to see them, but I said he could not,
as Mrs. Hands had gone off with all the things on Friday night.
The prisoner then went away, and soon after returned with a
woman, who said that the prisoner's wife had behaved very ill
21 Q

242

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

to him, and that there was something wrong between the wife
and a gasfitter. The prisoner then said, ' You must know
where they are gone to ' I replied that I did not ; but he per-
sisted in coming every other day afterwards up to last Satur-
day night, pressing me to tell where his wife was, and he said
that he wa's afraid his wife would come to a bad way, as his
daughter had ; and rather than see her in the same ' emaciated'
state as his daughter, he would die in Newgate, for ' he loved
her after all.' This was on Saturday. I then said that I was
going to send my son to the place where he left the boxes for
the door-key, which Mrs. Hands had taken away, and that he
might accompany him. He said he was much obliged, and
would pay my son for his trouble, and they went away together.
This was at twenty minutes past six.

Prisoner : Did you ever see Mrs. Hands and my wife drink
together ? — Witness ; No.

Prisoner : At what time did they generally come home ? —
Witness : I never knew them to stop out late.

George Lanning, landlord of No. 33 North street, where
the deceased had lodged, said : That at half-past seven on
Saturday night last, a lad called on him and asked for the two
females for whom he had brought the boxes a fortnight before.
They were not then at home, and the boy left. At eight
o'clock the prisoner came and asked was Mrs. Bare there ?
Not knowing her by that name I said that she did not lodge
there, and in telling the names of my lodgers I mentioned that
of ' Miss Nott,' and he said, ' That's she ; that's my wife ; that
was her maiden name.' He was very violent, and threatened
to break open the door unless I gave up the boxes. I said
that would not be a legal proceeding, and asked him to sit
down in the parlor, which he did. I said that Miss Nott (his
wife) would be sure to be in by nine o'clock, as she was so
very regular. After conversing for an hour and a half she
came in, and walked through the passage, and I said, 1 That's
the good lady you came for.' The door being open he could
see her as she passed, and I gave him a candle and he followed
her up stairs. I left the boy in the parlor, and went to seek a
policeman to guard against any disturbance. In half an hour
I returned, and found the deceased lying on the floor, upon
which was a great quantity of blood. My wife was bathing
her face with water. A box lay on the pavement outside, and
I took it into the house. The policeman ran for a medical
man, who speedily arrived.

Prisoner : Did not I tell you what sort of characters you

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

243

had got in your house ? — Witness : You said that I had two
bad characters, no better than common prostitutes, who were
able to deceive any one, and that your wife had repeatedly
robbed you in your business, and absconded with your pro-
perty. The deceased was a well-conducted woman, and both
she and Mrs. Hands, the deceased's fellow-lodger, I believed
to be serious and religious women. You told me several times
that your wife had sold up your home, taking the property
with her.

Prisoner : You, sir, seem to be very warm on the subject.
I have no more questions to ask you.

Mrs. Hands, deceased's fellow-lodger, was called, but was so
affected by the awful occurrence, that she was unable to undergo
examination.

Rebecca Lanning, the landlady, said that when the two
women came to lodge at her house, one represented herself as
a single woman, and the other as a widow. They took the
apartments on Friday fortnight, when the boy brought the
boxes there. On last Saturday the boy called to inquire for
them, when they were not at home, and the prisoner afterwards
came. He was much excited, and very noisy. She told him
to be quiet, as there were other lodgers in the house, and he,
at her request, went into the parlor. After his wife came, the
prisoner went up stairs, and I heard some loud talking. The
prisoner called up the boy, who was in the parlor. The boy
went up, and immediately I heard the poor woman screech
most awfully, and cry out, 'Oh ! you're murdering me;' the
boy came down first with one box, and then with the other.
The screeching lasted about three minutes. The prisoner came
down after the boy, and tried to open the front door, but could
not, and I opened it for him. I saw blood on the back of his
hand. While he was in the room I heard a noise like the
throwing down of a chair. After he left, the ' screeching'
ceased, and I ran up stairs into the room and found a chair
lying across the fender. The deceased was lying upon it, with
her hand up to her face. She could not speak. Her bonnet
and cap were off, and her hair, which was hanging over her
neck, was smeared with blood. She breathed ; but when the
doctor arrived shortly afterwards, she was dead. I saw a
great deal of blood upon her, and in the apartment.

Other lodgers gave evidence corroborative of the preced-
ing, and one of them said she saw the prisoner beating his
wife, and begged of him, for God's sake, to desist from ill-
treating her. The boy was in the room while he (prisoner)

244

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR;

was attacking the poor creature who had fallen a victim to his
violence.

It was further proved that the prisoner was apprehended at
the Bedford Arms, South street, near North street, where he
had a glass of gin at the bar. He was the worse for liquor,
but not drunk. He was conveyed to the station by Gott, 338
D, and on the way thither he said that his wife had taken a
chisel or something of that sort to strike him with, and that
he snatched it from her hand, and 'gave her the contents.'
His right hand was covered with blood, and upon his chin
were also spots, as if blood had spurted out upon it. He in-
quired frequently how his wife was, and on being told that she
was dead, he exclaimed, 1 Christ Almighty ! who'd have thought
I'd the heart to do it ? I have a daughter on the town, and a
little boy in bed at a beer-shop. He little thinks that I have
killed his mother, and I wish I was going to be hung this very
moment.'

Church, 129 D, produced a triangular saw file about six
inches long, very sharp at each end, and it appeared to have
been recently ground and pointed. There were on it marks of
blood. The implement was found between the bars of the
grate, and the handle was broken in two, and picked up in dif-
ferent parts of the room. The portions of the handle had
also blood on them.

Mr. Dickenson, surgeon, 15 Charles street, Manchester square,
deposed that he was called in, and found the furniture and
other things in the room in great disorder. The woman was
lying upon the floor, to all appearances dead, and blood was
flowing from various wounds. Witness described the wounds,
which were sixteen in number, and they had been inflicted upon
various parts of her person. One of them was on the left side
of the chest, over the second rib, which was fractured about an
inch and a half from the breast-bone ; and on tracing that
wound, upon making a jwst mortem examination, he found
that it had penetrated two important blood-vessels to the cover-
ing of the heart. The wound alluded to was of itself sufficient
to cause death. The wounds were all of a triangular shape,
and the file produced was just the kind of instrument with
which the fatal injury might have been inflicted.

The prisoner, when asked had he anything to say ! replied,
'Nothing.' He was then removed, and conveyed to the House
of Detention. The proceedings did not terminate till six
o'clock." — Observer, November 11th. 1851.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

245

When the case had terminated, and we had left the
room, I said to my servant, " Buck, what do you think
of that Bagnigge Wells lad who was called as a witness,
and who, though seventeen years old, knew nothing of
God, and had never heard of the devil ?"

Buck. " 1 was never so 'stonished, Marster, in all my
born clays. Ef I live to git home, I'll git up a surscrip-
tion 'mong the niggers to send a mishunnary to them poor
Bag-in-the-wells people — a raal Methodist mishunnary,
Marster — some o' them shoutin' Bonarges fellers, as Mars
Joe calls urn ; for hit '11 take sich a preacher, Marster, to
maul the grace o' God into their ignorant souls. 2sone
o' them nice smooth pairsons, with their frocks on •"

Myself. " Gowns, you mean, Buck."

Buck. 11 Well, 'pears like hit's pretty much the same
thing, Marster — leastwise they aint coats and breeches,
like our preachers wars. But, as I was a say in', Marster,
none o' them nice genYmen will do, no way you can fix
it. They aint gwine to put themselves to no trouble for
no sich people ; an ef they did, p'raps the people wouldn't
onderstand 'um.* Ef we could only git Pairson Duncan,
now, or Mars George Pearce, to come over here, sir, they
'ud soon larn 'um who God is ; and then they Jud run the
devil out of 'um, sartain and sure."

Myself. " I really do think they need some such in-
struction, Buck. And I confess myself greatly surprised
at finding such specimens of a low civilization in the me-
tropolis of Great Britain."

Buck. "After sich doins as we've jest been hearin
about, Marster, 'mong these people, I don't know that we
onght to be sprised that that boy didn't know nothin
'bout God — but hit raaly do seem sorter strange, sir,
that he shouldn't know nothin 'bout the devil, don't it ?
Howbever, they say hit's a wise child that knows hit's
father, an I spose he aint wise."

* This was before the present Bishop of London and a few other emi-
nent ministers of the Church of England — roused to the task, perhaps,
by the example of one of those Boauerges sort of fellows, as my servant
styles them, Mr. Spurgeon — had made those efforts which have been
put forth in the last few years to preach to such people.

21*

246 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

I could not but smile at Buck's conceit ; but, notwith-
standing his fun, I found that he was graver than was
usual with him.

" Marster," said he, " 1 couldn't help feelin sorry for
that poor man. He desarves to be hung, I spose ; but I
couldn't help to do it, nohow."

Myself. " Why what is the reason ? It was surely one
of the most wicked and revolting murders of which I
have ever heard any account — the murder of a woman,
the man's weak, unhappy wife — in such a savage way,
too I"

Buck. 11 Well, maybe hit was, Marster ; maybe hit was.
I don't say it warn't. But when they told us 'bout what
he said consarnin that poor little boy in bed in a beer-
shop, and 'bout his darter, I couldn't help thinking 'bout
little Billy, an my other chil'n at home, Marster ; an that,
but for the goodness of God, they mought a been as bad
off as them poor chil'n, sir ; an I sorter growed sorry for
the man, sir ; though I know very well his wife warn't
to blame for his misry, and he no business to kill her for
it. But, poor feller ! I reckon he was so onhappy he
didn't care much what he done, nor what come of him."

I saw at once, Major, that the mention of that poor
u little boy in bed in a beer-shop " was the " touch of Na-
ture" which had asserted the kindred of that man of
blood even to my kind-hearted slave, and had enlisted his
sympathies. The truth is, the whole evidence, and all the
circumstances of this case, presented a picture as touch-
ing as it was wicked and shocking — a picture which serves
as another illustration of the extent to which social pro-
fligacy prevails among the English people. Group for a
moment, if you please, in one "night scene," that
wretched mother, dying under the bloody blows of the
infuriate father, whilst in the street beneath, their fam-
ished and outcast daughter wanders in darkness and guilt,
and hard by, in the hell of a drinking-shop, their infant
boy sleeps, unconscious of the hell of passions which is
flaming around him. And when you have done so, you
will admit that it is difficult to gaze steadily on such a
scene with clear head and undimmed eyes.

About the beginning of 1852, this man Bare was

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

247

brought to trial in the Central Criminal Court. Here is
a condensed account of the trial, taken from the " Ob-
server " of that date. The heathenish boy, Braston, in
the interval, had been instructed in the obligations of an
oath, and you will find his testimony in the record.

"CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT — THE MURDER IN MARYLEBONE.

On Thursday, Thomas Bare, aged 43, pipe-maker, was in-
dicted for the wilful murder of Louisa Bare, his wife. The
details of the evidence in this case have been already fully given
in the Observer, in the reports of the proceedings before the
police magistrates. He was well dressed, and of respectable
appearance. He betrayed no emotion.

Fanny Nott, the mother of the deceased, deposed that her
daughter had been twenty years married to the prisoner, but
had for some time lived separate from him. Shortly before
the murder the prisoner called on witness and asked after his
little boy, and where his wife lived. Witness refused to tell
him, and he then said that he would be revenged, and would
do something to some one, but he did not say to whom. Wit-
ness, on cross-examination, admitted that this was the first time
she had made this statement.

Sarah Abrahams, of 5 Brook's Gardens, Bagnigge-wells,
repeated the evidence previously given by her.

Edward Braston, aged 18, the last witness' son, deposed to
having gone on the day of the murder with the prisoner to No.
33 North street, Marylebone, where the deceased lodged. They
did not get there till near seven o'clock in the evening, as the
prisoner had drink at three houses on the way. The deceased
was not at home when the prisoner and witness came, but the
prisoner waited in the parlor, and on the deceased coming home
and going up stairs, the prisoner followed her, and went into
her room. Shortly after he called up witness to fetch the
boxes, and the witness went up, and found the prisoner and
his wife talking quietly together. The prisoner said to witness,
'Here, my lad, take this box down stairs.' Witness did so,
and as he was leaving the room, he heard the deceased scream-
ing 'murder,' and the prisoner hitting her three or four times,
but witness saw no instrument. Witness put the box down in
the parlor, and went up again to fetch the other box. He met
the prisoner on the stairs, and he told him to fetch the other

248

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

box down. When witness returned to the room, he found the
deceased lying by the fire-place. There was blood upon her
face, but he did not hear her groan or make any sound. He
then carried down the box, and found the prisoner in the street.
He told the prisoner to come back, for he had killed his wife.
He denied it, and said, 'If I have, do you call a policeman.'
Witness did so, and gave him in charge. The prisoner and
the deceased appeared to be friendly when the witness first
entered the room.

Sarah Beckett, who lodged in the adjoining room, deposed
that she heard loud quarrelling in the deceased's room, and
then screams of 'murder.' She rushed out and saw the pri-
soner and deceased standing by the window fighting. They
both fell down together, the deceased appearing to be holding
the prisoner. She did not see the prisoner use any instrument
but his clenched fist. Not a word was said by either of them
whilst they were fighting. Witness requested the boy to in-
terfere, but he said he should not, as ' it served the woman jolly
well right,' She saw the deceased on the ground, and the
floor covered with blood.

The witness Braston said he could not recollect having used
the above expressions. From the testimony of other witnesses,
it appeared that the prisoner had suspected and accused his
wife of infidelity, and of frequenting low public-houses with
prostitutes. On being taken into custody, and being told that
his wife was dead, he said, ' Christ Almighty ! who'd have
thought I had the heart to do it !' It was also proved that,
previous to the murder, he had purchased a file ; and the sur-
gical evidence showed that sixteen wounds had been given upon
the face, trunk, back, and ribs, one of which had been broken,
and the pulmonic artery severed, the wounds being triangular,
as if given with a file.

Mr. Ballantine, in defence, submitted that it was clear that
the prisoner's original object was merely to obtain possession
of the boxes ; and that if he had intended to use violence, a
file would not have been the instrument purchased for the pur-
pose, but a knife. The evidence of the lodgers also showed
that the parties had quarrelled, and that, in the midst of the
altercation, he said, 'All I want is my property.'

Several witnesses deposed to the general humane, quiet, and
good conduct of the prisoner.

The judge then summed up, and the jury retired at twenty
minutes to five o'clock, and at six returned with a verdict of
guilty of manslaughter.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

249

Mr. Justice Piatt immediately passed sentence. He said
that, upon what grounds the jury had rested their verdict, it
was not for him to inquire. It was their province to decide
upon the facts ; and, whatever might be the opinion of the
great majority of the hearers of the evidence in this case, the
court must act upon the verdict of the jury alone. Under the
circumstances he should sentence the prisoner to be transported
for the term of his natural life."

You perceive that the prisoner was found guilty of
manslaughter only, to the surprise of- the judge and of the
audience. It will equally surprise you, I do not doubt.
The verdict was supposed to furnish another instance of
that toleration of wife-murder to which I have referred.

I am making this letter too long, and must forthwith
write myself,

Respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Max Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTEE XXVI.

MURDER OF A WOMAN BY HER HUSBAND IN THE CITY OF

OXFORD ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A WIFE, AND SUICIDE OF

HUSBAND, AT NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE — HORRIBLE MURDER

OF A WIFE BY THE HUSBAND IN THE CITY OF LONDON

EXECUTION OF THE MURDERER, AND REMARKABLE DECLA-
RATION MADE BY HIM DEATH OF A WIFE FROM BRUTAL

ILL-TREATMENT BRUTAL MURDER OF A WIFE.

London, December 3d, 1853.

Dear Major : — I will send you, in this letter, other
notices of wife-murders in England. Here, for example,
is a case occurring in the city of Oxford :

250

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

"MURDER OF A WOMAN" BY HER HUSBAND.

Considerable excitement was manifested at the city of Oxford
on Monday, in consequence of the death of a woman named Eli-
zabeth Noon, who had been stabbed in the back with a sword
by her husband Elijah Noon, on the previous Saturday night.
An inquest was held on Monday afternoon, when the following
evidence was adduced : On Saturday evening, the husband,
who is a plasterer, went to a public house in St. Giles's, called
the North Star, to receive his wages from his brother, Mr. T.
Noon, builder, who usually paid his men at this house. In
consequence of his not coming home at twelve o'clock, his wife
went to fetch him, and met him on the way, when it appeared
that she continued to upbraid him for his conduct, until they
reached their house. On reaching home, the wife told her hus-
band in the presence of their daughter, thirteen years of a ge, who
had been sitting up, that he was a good-for-nothing villain for
stopping out so late. He made no observation, but appeared
to be greatly annoyed, although he was tipsy at the time, and
shortly after he emptied his money out of his purse on the
table, when his wife told him that he could go out and treat
other people, but he could not treat her. This put him in a
passion, but he spoke not a word, and he went to a shelf in
the room and took off an old sword which was kept there. He
drew it out of the sheath, which he threw on the floor, and
then struck his wife across the back with the flat part of the
sword. The daughter unlocked the door of the sitting-room
leading into the street, and tried to pull her mother out by her
right arm, but she would not go. and while she was doing this,
the father, who held the sword in both hands, ran it into his
wife's left side, and she fell partly in the street and partly in
the house. She afterwards got up and went to a neighbor's
next door but one to her own house, and there she fell again.
With the assistance of her daughter she returned home, when
she found her husband putting the sword back on the shelf;
he afterwards took a seat by the fire, when his wife fell on her
knees and begged him to take her hands, for she knew she
should die. The husband sent his daughter to get some brandy,
and on her return she found that her father had carried her
mother up stairs to bed, and undressed her. A neighbor was
fetched, and in answer to her inquiry what she was suffering
from, she pointed out a wound in her side, which she said her
husband had inflicted with a sword. The husband was pre-

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

251

sent at the time, and did not deny it, but said, ' Oh, dear !'
and left the room immediately. During the whole of Sunday
the poor woman was attended by her neighbors, and her hus-
band came into the room to see her several times. They were
reconciled to each other, and she told him that she freely for-
gave him all things, and hoped that the Lord would forgive
her. She also begged him to avoid passion.

A post mortem examination was made by Mr. Godfrey and
Mr. F. Symonds, when it was ascertained that the sword had
passed between the seventh and eighth ribs, through the pleura,
wounding the left lung ; it had also passed through the dia-
phragm and penetrated the small curvature of the stomach,
wounding the coronary artery, and gone through the stomach
to the opposite side. The sword had penetrated from ten to
eleven inches.

The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder." — Observer,
May 10th 1852.

The following terrible tragedy occurred in the latter
part of 1852, in the city of London. I invite your atten-
tion to the comments of the press upon the case, to a
remarkable feature in the case itself, growing out of a
declaration of the criminal, and to the observations of
Lord Palmerston (induced by the case), in proof of all
that I and others have said as to the toleration of bar-
barous cruelty to the weaker sex, and of wife-murder in
this country, which boasts of its civilization, and which
ventures to hold up our slaveholding States to reproba-
tion.

" HORRIBLE MURDER IN THE CITY.

A murder of a most horrible character, which produced the
greatest sensation in the eastern portion of the city, was per-
petrated at an early hour on Tuesday morning in Sun street,
Bishopsgate street Without. The unfortunate creature who
perished was a young married woman, named Mary Horler,
aged twenty-five, and the party who has been apprehended on
suspicion of destroying her life is her husband, Henry Horler,
a journeyman shoemaker, who is about the same age as his un-
fortunate victim. They had been married about twelve months,
and occupied an apartment at Xo. 76 in the above street, but
in consequence of his intemperate habits, they do not appear
to have lived happily together.

252

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

In the course of the morning, the prisoner was charged at
the Mansion house with perpetrating the deed, and after some
brief evidence, he was remanded, as it was evident he was then
laboring under the excitement of drink. After a slight deten-
tion in the cells, he was removed to the Compter in a cab.

On Wednesday Horler was re-examined before Alderman
Finnis, at the Mansion house.

Dixon, the police Serjeant, gave the following statement —
' I conveyed the prisoner, when he was remanded on Tuesday,
to prison. In going along, he said — 'After mother left the
night before, I had talked with my wife respecting her leaving
me in the morning to go home with her mother, which, I be-
lieved, she did not want to do, and we then agreed to destroy
each other. She took a knife, and I took one also. I then
was on the bed with her, and said to her, ' Remember, this will
be the last time.' I was then on the point of cutting her
throat with the knife I had in my hand. She then said, ' Henry,
stop, I will tell you where your razor is, by which you can do
it quicker.' I (the officer) said to the prisoner, was she un-
dressed ? ' No,' said he, ' we were not undressed, either of us.'
He also said it occurred before day, early in the morning.
When I first discovered the body it was dressed. The pri-
soner, upon being asked whether he wished to ask any ques-
tions of the witness, said, 'Oh, not at all, not at all.' Wit-
ness, in continuation, said — ' On the evening before I was sent
by the inspector to the prisoner's house. I saw the deceased
and her mother sitting in the room. We came down stairs
together, and there met the prisoner, and the mother said she
had come for her daughter. The prisoner said he had worked
very hard to keep her and make her happy and comfortable,
and he should do so still, and they would be very happy to-
gether, if the mother would not interfere with them. The de-
ceased said to him, ' Henry, if you ill-use me I certainly shall
not stop with you.' I said, 'It's a pity you cannot settle your
affairs ; if your husband ill-uses you, you know where to ap-
ply.' She said, ' It's not the first or second time he ill-used
me.' He made no reply to that observation.' The pri-
soner : ' It's an untruth to say I ill-used her ; but she said so,
J know.'

Thomas Balcher (city police, 618): 'I accompanied Ser-
jeant Dixon to the room in which the body of the deceased
lay. A counterpane was thrown over the body, and covered
it completely. I turned down the counterpane, and saw the
corpse of a female with her throat cut.'

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

253

Alderman Finnis : ' Was there any appearance of a strug-
gle in the room?' Witness: 'Not the slightest. 1 then
went to the station to report. The prisoner was in the cell at
the time. He asked me for some water, which I gave him,
and he said, ' I can tell you more than all the world can. I
have done it. I know I must die for it. I know I must be
hanged, but her mother has been the cause.'

0. Saunderson (station serjeant), said : 1 On Monday even-
ing, at a little after five o'clock, the prisoner came to the
station house, and said he wished for advice. He said that
he and his wife lived exceedingly comfortable, and were going
on as well as any man and wife could go on, but her mother
and aunt were at his house, and were inducing his wife to
leave him and to go with them to Bath. He stated that his
wife's mother was a fortune-teller, and earned a great deal of
money, as much as £5 a day ; that she had several other mar-
ried daughters, all of whom had children, and that his wife
being without children, her mother was the more anxious for
her to keep the door of her fortune-telling room. He asked
me what he was to do, and I asked him whether his wife was
inclined to leave him, to which he answered that they had so
worked upon her that he believed she would leave him. He
intimated that he had £40 or £50 in the savings bank, and
that they wished to have it. He left the station apparently
satisfied. At a little before six o'clock he returned to the
station-house and mentioned that he had been home, and that
they had treated him roughly. After nine o'clock he came
again, accompanied by a young man, to whom he said he
wished to deliver over his book and money. He was perfectly
sober and collected during the whole time. On Tuesday morn-
ing I was in the station-house when the prisoner was brought
in, at half-past ten o'clock, on the charge of being drunk. He
said that his mother-in-law charged him with doing away with
her daughter, and he was very drunk and foolish at the time.
He was asked repeatedly by his mother-in-law what he had
done with his wife — the daughter. He always evaded answer-
ing the question, and talked in a foolish manner about her
being a fortune-teller. He afterwards said his mother-in-law,
the fortune-teller, had brought him to that. I asked him what
had become of his wife, and -he said she was right enough, and
that he had slept with her last night.'

Mr. G. B. Childe, surgeon to the police force, said : 'I was
sent for by Dixon to attend at 76 Sun street, Bishopsgate, and
I saw lying on a bureau bedstead in the attic the corpse of a
22

254

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

young woman, apparently twenty-two or twenty-three years
of age.' The prisoner : ' Older, older.' Witness: ' She was
dressed in a claret-colored gown. Her right hand was raised
towards her throat. Her left hand was lying straight by her
side. She was lying on her back, with her chin slightly in-
clined towards the right shoulder. An extensive wound was
in the throat on the left side. The muscles and windpipe, to-
gether with the principal nerves and arteries on that side of
the neck, were cut through, as also was the tube leading to
the stomach, and the vertebrae at the back of the neck were
exposed. She must have been dead several hours, the body
was quite cold and stiff, and the muscles were rigid. I believe
that, at the time the act was committed, she was either stupe-
fied by drink or sleeping. There was no appearance of strug-
gling having taken place. The hand had been raised too late
to arrest the fatal weapon.'

Mr. Henry Shaw, surgeon, of Bishopsgate street, said : 1 1
saw the body at about 11 o'clock yesterday. I believe the act
was committed when the deceased was asleep, and my impres-
sion was, that from the coldness and rigidity of the body, life
must have been extinct ten or twelve hours.'

Ann Rogers, mother of the deceased, said : 'I am the wife
of a mason who resides at Bath. The prisoner married my
daughter Ann on the 10th of June, 1851, at St. James's church,
Bath. I came to London on Monday last, in consequence of
a letter which I received from Ann. I went with my sister to
her lodging, at 76 Sun street, Bishopsgate, and had not time
to speak a dozen words to her when he came in. In answer
to my inquiry after his health, he said he was very poorly. I
said I did not wonder at it from his usage of poor Ann, and I
told him I was come to fetch her away.' After a few words,
expressive of the determination of the witness to take away her
daughter, the prisoner went away, and soon afterwards re-
turned with a police-sergeant, who told her she was breaking
the peace in forcing the man's wife away from him. To that
she replied by stating that it was the wish of her daughter to
go ; and the deceased confirmed the statement, at the same
time acknowledging that she had no objection to live with him
if he would keep his hands off her. ' I said to my daughter
(continued the witness), 'Are you ready to come with me, Ann ?
1 have got a return ticket to Bath at 9 o'clock.' She said,
' Yes, I shall, but I hardly think I am going.' She then began
to pack her things in the trunk. The prisoner then said she

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

255

should not go that night, but she should go with me at 10
o'clock in the morning. I told him that I did not consider her
safe with him. He then took her by the hand and pulled her
upon his knees, saving to her, 1 You are not afraid of me, Ann,
are you, dear I' She replied, 1 No, provided you keep your
hands olf me.' After some further conversation, he said he
would next morning get her clothes out of pawn, and she
should be ready to go with me to the country. She then
wanted me to sleep in the room, but the prisoner objected, and
told me I should have some coffee in the morning, and that my
daughter would be ready to go with me. I told him I did not
think she was safe with him, and I asked him what I could
think when he strove to strangle her last week, and her neck was
bruised? He said, 'Was your neck bruised, Ann?' 'Yes,'
said she, 'it was bruised ; I'll never run from my word.' All
this took place while she was sitting on his knee, I got a
lodging in the neighborhood, and in about a quarter of an
hour afterwards I returned and got a bed-gown from her, and
I told her to be in readiness to come with me next day. They
both replied that she would. I did not see either of them that
night again. Next morning, at a little after 10, I went up
stairs, and called 'Ann' at their door, about five minutes. I
heard him say, as if speaking to somebody, ' Oh, that's Mrs.
Rogers.' I said, ' Why don't you open the door to me, Henry ?
where is Ann ?' He said, 'She is all right,' The witness then
proceeded to state her suspicion of the desperate nature of the
prisoner's conduct, and the fact of alarming the police, as had
been represented in effect in the other evidence.

Other witnesses, from the evidence of some of whom it ap-
peared that the prisoner had contrived to get into a beastly
state of intoxication, were examined, and the Alderman stated
• that he would commit the prisoner for trial for the murder of
his wife.

The prisoner was again placed at the bar on Thursday, and
the depositions having been formally read over, he was fully
committed for trial." — Weekly Dispatch, Nov. 21st, 1852.

In December, 1852, Horler was tried and convicted,
and I send you an account of his last moments, and of his
execution. In this account you will find the observation
of Lord Palmerston and the declaration of the criminal,
to which- 1 have referred.

256

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

" EXECUTION OF HENRY HORLER — REMARKABLE DECLARATION
OF THE CRIMINAL.

This wretched man, who was convicted at the December
sessions of the Central Criminal Court of the murder of his
wife, Anne Horler, under circumstances of great atrocity, suf-
fered the extreme sentence of the law yesterday morning, at
eight o'clock, in front of Newgate. About ten days since the
sheriffs, Messrs. Aldermen Carter and Croll, accompanied by
the reverend ordinary of Newgate, waited upon Lord Pahner-
ston at the Home-office, for the purpose of urging the royal
clemency in the case. The sheriffs dwelt particularly upon the
fact of mercy having been extended in similar cases. Lord
Palmerston listened attentively to the application, and ex-
pressed an opinion that the sheriffs had only done their duty
in laying before him certain facts that had not transpired at
the trial, but his lordship added that, after conferring with the
judge who tried the prisoner, he saw no reason to recommend
the exercise of the Queen's prerogative ; in fact, he was not
sure that the frequency of crimes similar to the prisoner's had
not arisen from the clemency referred to.

The unfavorable result of this application was communicated
by the ordinary to Horler, who appeared little affected by it.
He evidently still clung to the hope that his life would be
spared. His mother and his father and his wife's aunt visited
him subsequently, to take their last farewell. The interviews
arc described to have been very painful, but it is feared the
prisoner exhibited little sign of true repentance. The sheriffs
have been exceedingly attentive to the wretched man since his
conviction, and the reverend ordinary has used the most un-
ceasing efforts to bring him to a state of mind becoming his
awful position. In the course of conversation with the Rev.
Mr. Davis on Saturday, he made a remarkable admission,
which will probably shake the faith of some of those gentlemen
who are just now loudly urging the propriety of abolishing the
punishment of death. After expressing the great fear he had
of undergoing the actual pain of a violent death, he stated that
he did not think his crime would have cost him his life — that
he expected he should have been imprisoned for life or trans-
ported ; but that if he had looked forward to the punishment
of death as a probable contingency, he should not have com-
mitted the crime.

The remarkable statement made by the prisoner, that if he

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

257

fmd known his own life would have been the penalty, he would
not have committed the crime, will scarcely surprise those who
remember that the following capitally convicted murderers,
tried at the Old Bailey, have had their sentence commuted to
transportation during the last ten years : William Stolzer,
October, 1843; Edwin Dwyer, November, 1843; Mary Far-
ley, April, 1844 ; Augustus Dalmas, June, 1844 ; John Smith,
August, 1846 ; William Newton Allnutt, December, 184T ;
Mary Ann Hunt, August, 1847 ; Annette Meyers, February,
1848 ; William Tomkins, May, 1848 ; George M'Coy, Decem-
ber, 1849 ; S. A. Jordan, October, 1849 ; Anne Merrett, April,
1850 ; and William Smith, November) 1851."— Weekly Free-
man's Journal, Jan. Ihth, 1853.

In the latter part of 1852, the following was reported
as occurring at Newcastle-upon-Tyne :

"ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE.

On Tuesday morning, at the borough police court, New-
castle-upon-Tyne, Robert Knox, a tailor, was brought up for
further examination on the charge of attempting to murder his
wife. Mrs. Knox, who was disinclined to appear against her
husband, but had been summoned by the magistrate to attend,
said that, on the evening of Saturday, the 28th of November, her
husband came home very tipsy, and a quarrel took place between
them, but she lost all recollection of what happened, until she
found herself wounded, and police officers in the room. They
had been married twenty-eight years, and had nine children.
Mrs. Brennan said she lived in the room adjoining the prison-
er's. About one o'clock in the morning of Sunday, the 29th
of November, she heard a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Knox
screaming on the stair-head, and on going to their room, she
found the prisoner and his wife lying on the floor. Both were
bleeding. The prisoner said, ' I have done it, and want to die
in peace.' Mr. Brennan, the husband of the last witness, said
that on the morning in question, he followed his wife into
Knox's room, assisted to lift Mr. and Mrs. Knox from the
floor, and then went for policemen and medical assistance.

Mr. Finnigan, clothes dealer, Dog Bank, said that at one
o'clock on the morning of the 29th ult, he heard the prisoner's
daughter shout, ' My mother is stabbed — he had a knife to my
mother.' He ran into their room, and saw Mrs. Knox lying
on her left side, near the window. The prisoner was lying
22* R

258

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

close to her, and a large carving knife was sticking in his
breast. Witness inquired who did it, and the prisoner then
drew the knife from his body, threw it upon the ground, and
said, 4 You see you I have done it myself.' Mrs. Knox screamed
and said, 1 Oh my heart — I am dying to which the prisoner
replied, 'Die hard, you .'

Mrs. Finnigan, wife of the last witness, said that when she
entered the room on the morning in question, she heard the
prisoner, who had been told that his wife would recover, say,
4 1 wish I had done it more effectually, and I wisli to die in
peace.' She unloosed Mrs. Knox's stays, and found that she
had been stabbed.

Mr. J. L. Miller, surgeon, said that between one and two
o'clock in the morning of the 29th alt., he was sent for to the
prisoner's house in Dog Bank. Mrs. Knox had a wound two
inches in depth over the eighth rib, which must have been in-
flicted with great violence by a sharp knife. For several days
she was dangerously ill, but was now out of danger. The pri-
soner had a wound two or three inches deep immediately over
the breast bone, but it was not a dangerous one, the knife
having been arrested in its progress by the bone. Several
other witnesses were examined, after which 31 r. Stoker, solicitor,
who appeared for the prisoner, said that Mrs. Knox had no
wish to prosecute, but if the magistrates considered that that
was not sufficient reason why the prisoner should not be sent
for trial, he could say nothing after the evidence that had been
given.

Dr. Airey, the sitting magistrate, said that the case must
undoubtedly be sent for trial. The prisoner was fully com-
mitted for trial at the next assizes." — Observer, December
mh, 1852.

In the early part of this year, I attended a trial at the
Old Bailey, which I think you will admit seems to show
that those " vigorous measures of repression " which the
Parliament has been invited to adopt for the prevention
of such savage treatment of their wives, and of women
generally, by Englishmen, are likely to prove but a
shabby remedy, whilst the courts and juries who try the
offenders are composed of persons who sympathize with
the criminal. But possibly we should not be hard on
these gentlemen — possibly they really feel, in all humility,
that they are not sufficiently M without sin " in this respect

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

269

themselves, to " first cast a stone." This conclusion
would seem to he justified by the testimony of the wit-
nesses quoted in my last letter, who deposed that one of
these wife-murderers beat his wife only " in common with
other husbands."

Here is the trial to which I have referred:

"DEATH OF A WIFE FROM BRUTAL ILL-TREATMENT.

At the Old Bailey Court on Thursday, John Parrott, forty-
five, was indicted for the w ilful murder of his wife, Sarah Par-
rott. Mr. Bodkin, counsel for the prosecution, opened the
case in a temperate address. He said that, although it had
been deemed advisable for the ends of justice to prefer the pre-
sent charge against the prisoner, yet he thought the jury ought
to be informed that the matter had been previously inquired
into by a coroner's jury, and that they were discharged with-
out returning a verdict. It was, however, thought that a case
of this description ought not to be allowed to pass without
full investigation ; and after they had heard the evidence he
should lay before them, they would have to say whether it
established the fact that the deceased met her death from vio-
lence inflicted upon her by the prisoner, and, if so, whether
the act committed by him amounted to the crime of wilful
murder, or was an offence of a less aggravated character.

Three or four witnesses were then examined, and from their
evidence it appeared that the prisoner got his living by hawk-
ing meat about the streets, and that he and his wife lodged in
a garret at No. 6 Spicer street, Spitalfields, and that they
were in a most wretched state of poverty. The deceased
woman was in a very weak and emaciated state of body, and
nearly blind ; and it appeared that during nearly the whole
of the time the parties occupied this lodging they were con-
tinually quarrelling, and the deceased was repeatedly heard to
scream for assistance, and to call 'murder.' It would seem
that in the evening of the 7th of December the deceased and
the prisoner were heard quarrelling upon the staircase of the
house by some of the other lodgers, and the prisoner, in answer
to something that was said by the deceased, told her that he
would do something for her the next day. On the following
morning, between seven and eight o'clock, a woman named
Merrett, who occupied a room directly under the prisoner's
garret, heard screams and cries of murder come from his room,
which continued for nearly half an hour. 1 During this time

260

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ) OR,

prisoner was heard to swear at deceased and make use of very
foul language, and deceased repeatedly called out that her hus-
band was murdering her. This witness went out of her room
and called to the prisoner, and said, ' Parrot, what are you
doing to that poor creature V and he made some answer which
she did not clearly hear. She then said that she should go for

the police, to which the prisoner replied, 1 the police.'

Shortly after this the prisoner went out, and did not return
until between nine and ten o'clock, and he then went into his
own room, and immediately afterwards the deceased again
began to scream and call murder, and there was the sound of
a scuffle, as though some person had fallen, and that some
struggle was taking place upon the floor. After a short time
had elapsed, the prisoner left the house a second time, and when
he was gone, all was quiet in his room. He came home agaiu
about five o'clock ; immediately after he got into his room he
alarmed the lodgers, and on going to the garret he occupied,
the deceased was found lying on a straw mattress quite dead,
and from the rigid and cold state of the body it was evident
that death had taken place for several hours. When the pri-
soner was informed that his wife was dead and cold, he said,
'nonsense,' and that the persons who said so were mad; he
added that he had spoken to her ten minutes before, and asked
her to have some tea, and he said that she answered him by
saying that she did not know where she was. These were the
main facts of the case ; and it appeared that when the prisoner
was apprehended, he at first denied that his name was John
Parrott, but afterwards, upon the policeman telling him that
it was no use his doing so, he admitted the fact ; and when he
was told that he was charged with causing the death of his
wife, he said that he had got over all that by the coroner's
inquest.

Dr. Godfrey, the surgeon who was called in upon the occa-
sion, said that, upon examining the body of the deceased, he
was unable to discover any mark of external violence, but on
the 11th of Dec-ember, he, by direction of the coroner, made
a post-mortem examination. He then discovered that the body
was in a dreadfully emaciated condition, every portion of fat
in the intestines being entirely absorbed. One of the lungs
was very much compressed, and full of venous blood, and from
this and other appearances that presented themselves, he was
of opinion that the death arose from Buffocation. Upon
examining the head of the deceased, he found a quantity of

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

261

hair had been torn out completely by the roots, and there was
some coagulated blood inside the head corresponding with the
place whence the hair had been taken. He expressed an
opinion, from all the circumstances, that the deceased had died
through some person having seized her by the hair and pulled
her head forcibly forward upon her chest, and this, in her at-
tenuated condition, he said was very likely to have caused suf-
focation. He also expressed an opinion that the death might
have been occasioned by the pressure of a person kneeling
upon the chest of the deceased, and he was rather fortified in
this opinion by the condition of the lungs ; and he added that
the pressure might be sufficient to cause suffocation, and yet
not leave any external mark.

Mr. Sleigh, in his address to the jury for the prisoner, urged
that the evidence as to the cause of death was not sufficiently
conclusive to justify them in finding a verdict of guilty upon
so dreadful a charge ; and that, from the evidence of the medi-
cal gentleman, starvation might have had quite as much to do
with the death, as any act of the prisoner.

Mr. Justice Cresswell having summed up, the jury, after a
very short deliberation, found the prisoner Guilty of man-
slaughter.

The learned judge said the prisoner had been found guilty
of a very dreadful crime, and he entirely concurred in the ver-
dict of the jury. He thought it was very probable that he did
not intend to kill his unfortunate wife, and, therefore, he had
been properly acquitted of the crime of wilful murder ; but,
at the same time, it was quite clear that her death was the re-
sult of his savage and brutal violence. The offence had been
clearly made out, and he should sadly fail in his duty to the
public, if he did not pass a severe sentence, which was, that
he be transported beyond the seas for his natural life." —
Weekly Dispatch, February Qth, 1853.

Pray notice that the coroner's inquest was unable to
agree as to the character of the crime in this case ; and
the jury, upon the final trial, convicted of manslaughter
only — the learned judge agreeing to the correctness of the
verdict, but admitting that it was quite clear that " the
wife's death " was the result of the husband's " savage
and brutal violence." And yet, though this savage and
brutal violence was the cause of that poor, helpless, starv-

262

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

ing, emaciated creature's death, both judge and jury find
and say that she was not murdered. How can such a
conclusion, by possibility, be accounted for, but upon the
supposition of a controlling sympathy with the brute mur-
derer ? Again I repeat it, that Englishman spoke truly
who said that, in this country, " the vow to protect con-
fers a license to kill."

Another case occurred in London during this year,
which also serves as an illustration of what I have just
said. The report is entitled " Brutal Murder of a Wife
but of course the jury did not find it to be more than
manslaughter.

"BRUTAL MURDER OF A WIFE.

On Saturday week, a man named Francis Mead, a shoe-
maker, residing in Henry street, Marylebone, beat his wife to
death. The principal witness against him was his own son, a
lad fourteen years of age. It seems that, on Saturday week
last, the prisoner beat his wife, until her face, head, and arms,
were bruised and swollen ; then kicked her, and hurled her
about the room, until he had broken two of her ribs, which,
penetrating her lungs, brought on inflammation of those organs,
of which, on the following Monday, she died. Mary Wynn,
an acquaintance of deceased, said that she visited her on Mon-
day, when she saw her husband sitting at deceased's bedside.
Witness asked how she met with the injuries. The husband
replied that on Saturday night his wife had been drinking,
and that on running away from him she fell down stairs and
fractured her ribs. He then asked deceased if she wished to
say anything in witness' presence. She replied, 'What do
you wish me to say ? I forgive you, and may the Lord for-
give you. I have nothing to say; I die in peace.' After a
pause, she further said, ' Francis, I am dying ; take care of
my children, and don't beat Frank.' About an hour after-
wards, she died. The jury found a verdict of 'manslaughter'
against Francis Mead." — Hall Packet, Jane llth, 1853.

Poor, poor creature ! Well might she feel that it was
peace to be free from such a state of existence — peace to
go where there were no more husbands ; although, in so

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

2G3

doing, she had to leave that poor little Frank to the tender
mercies of the savage who had had no compassion on her.

I will return to this subject in another letter; and will
close this with the assurance that I am, as ever,
Kespectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTER XXVII.

MURDER OF A WIFE, AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE OF THE HUS-
BAND buck's INDIGNATION THEREAT, AND CRITICISMS

THEREON.

London, December 9th, 1853.

Dear Major : — In the latter part of August last, I
visited the Royal Mint, taking my servant with me. "VVe
started to return, during the afternoon, on foot, and were
lingering somewhere in the (to me) interesting neighbor-
hood of the Minories, when our attention was attracted
by a cry of distress. I looked in the direction from which
it proceeded, and beheld a spectacle which I sometimes
still see in my dreams. A woman was running towards
us, her arms thrown wildly about, and her clothes covered
with blood, which was flowing from a frightful gash in
her throat. She soon fell to the ground. We and others
ran to the spot, raised her, and, at the instance of some
one present, carried her to a surgeon who lived at no
great distance. She was evidently in a dying condition,
and I left her and returned to the scene of the catastro-
phe, that I might learn something of the particulars. As
we proceeded, I said to my man that I thought it very
probable this was another case of a wife murdered by her
husband.

"As sure as a gun, Marster," said he, " hit is 'nuther
one o' them bloody family frays, which I bleve in my soul

264

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

these Inglish people raally loves. In our country, you
know, sir, when husbands git oudacious mad with their
wives, they cusses and quits, and thinks they's done their
worst ; but here they kills urn. But, Marster, what's too
much for this nigger to onderstand is, the way they most
allers does it. Tears like hit's the natur of Inglishmen
to stick their wives in the throat. In Georgy we does
hogs so, and cuts the throats of beasts, becase we wants
to blood the meat well ; but why these Inglishmen should
want to do their wives so, beats me. Hit raally do seem
like they loves to see blood run."

" It does indeed, Buck; and there I suspect you have
hit the nail upon the head," said L " They seem to be
gratifying two passions when they are thus acting — one
of anger, the other, love of blood. The number of such
cases is truly wonderful, as you have suggested. But
what is this ?"

The last observation was induced by the approach of a
crowd of person, in the midst of whom a man was borne
along, who seemed also to have received a wound in the
throat. I asked a Jewish-looking person who stood near
me for an explanation, and was told that the wounded
man was the husband of the woman we had seen ; that,
after cutting her throat, he had endeavored to perform
the same office for himself, and that the neighbors were
now taking him to the surgeon also, but that he was not
as dangerously hurt as his wife.

" Bound for that !" said Buck. " Bound for that ! be-
case, mister, hit was one thing to stick his wife in the
gullet, and another thing to stick hisself. He pushed the
knife into his poor critter of a wife hard enough, God
knows ! But in course he cut hisself sorter more gra-
dual. Nobody but a coward would hurt a 'oman, and a
coward is allers mighty clar of bein much in arnest when
he comes to hurtin hisself. All I hope, mister, is, that
the doctor won't sew the hole up, but let the bloody var-
mint die, ef thar's any chance for it."

" Buck, Buck," said I, " this is going too far. You are
forgetting yourself."

" Beg pardon, Marster, but I was sorter ryled, from
seein that poor sufferin creetur of a 'oman, who I speet is

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

265

dead 'fore now ; and I couldn't help thinkin that ef the
man that killed her didn't take his own life, nobody would
do it for him in this country, an a mighty bloody crime
would go onpunished, Marster."

The woman died, as I supposed she would, in a short
time after I left her, and an inquest was held over her the
next day. From a report in a paper of the day, you will
get the facts of the case. I send it, as follows :

" MURDER OF A WIFE — ATTEMPTED SUICIDE BY THE HUSBAND.

On Wednesday afternoon, Joseph Mobbs, residing at Enoch
court, Goodwin's-yard, Minories, murdered his wife, and then
attempted to destroy himself. Since Easter he had lived in the
house of an industrious man named Riardon, and his four chil-
dren, by a former wife, lived with him. He was intemperate
in his habits, and, when intoxicated, behaved so brutally in
flogging and ill-treating his wife, that he latterly acquired in
the neighborhood the cognomen of ' General Haynau.' In the
course of Tuesday night he quarrelled with his wife, and she
ran to a neighbor's in the same court, where she remained all
night. On Wednesday morning he called for her, and com-
pelled her to go home, when he resumed his ill-treatment, load-
ing her with curses and execrations. About the middle of the
day the landlady of the house left home to obtain from the Lord
Mayor an ejectment summons, to get rid of Mobbs and his
family. The landlady returned at three o'clock, and heard
Mobbs and his wife talking in a subdued tone in their room
on the first floor, and shortly afterwards she heard a scream,
and Mrs. Mobbs rushed from the room with a frightful wound
in her throat, and ran about one hundred yards from the house,
when she fell exhausted, and faintly exclaiming, 1 Murder ! he
has cut my throat.' A crowd collected, and she was taken to
a surgeon, and then conveyed in a cab to the London Hospital,
but was a corpse before she reached it. Meanwhile the neigh-
bors had proceeded to the room of the murderer, and found
him weltering in his blood from an extensive wound in the
throat. On his way to the hospital he used incoherent excla-
mations respecting his wife. It seems that he was very jealous
of her, but the jealousy appears to have beeu unfounded. He
was seen in the morning industriously sharpening a table-knife,
which was found on the floor of his room when his wife was
23

266

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

murdered. He is a jobbing wine cooper, and is about 40 years
of age. The wife was about the same age." — Observer, Aug.
29tfi, 1853.

You will perceive, Major, that his neighbors called this
man Mobbs " Gen. Haynau," because of his cruelty to his
wife. After all the facts which appear in my last two or
three letters, you may think it surprising that English-
men— and that class of Englishmen, too, who so contemp-
tuously and insultingly treated this woman-flogging Aus-
trian general — should have been so excessively indignant
at the conduct of " General Haynau." Can it be that
they desire a monopoly of the article of brutality to
woman ? Seriously, though, whilst I truly sympathized
with those who so flouted the brutal soldier, and rejoiced
at what they did, I cannot but think that the proceeding
was very much of humbug — I cannot but feel that this
English people have a strong leaning towards the practice
of humbugging themselves. The case before us, and the
slavery agitation, are both illustrations ; for surely they
cannot be so prodigiously blinded in vision and blunted
in sensibility by the beams (some splinters of which I am
pointing out for your inspection), though I admit that
these are huge, which are in the eye of their social system,
as to be entirely ignorant of their presence. It is impos-
sible, therefore, not to think and talk of humbug, when
we witness these outbreaks of virtuous effort to pluck the
mote out of the eyes of their neighbors.

It would be easy for me to continue this catalogue of
wife-murders. But I have too much else to write for
your consideration, to spare more time and space to this
class of crimes. Enough has been shown you to authorize
the inference which I have pressed upon your attention.
I will continue to send you evidence of the terrible cru-
elty with which the women of this country are treated
by its men. But first, and in my next letter, I will show
you how the wives serve the husbands here occasionally.

In the meantime, I am,

Very respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

To Major J. Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Georgia, U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

267

LETTEK XXVIII.

MURDER OF THEIR HUSBANDS BY MARIA CAGE AND SARAH

CHESHAM — FORTUNE-TELLING AND POISONING A WIFE

POISONS HER HUSBAND IN SUSSEX— DR. JONES AND BUCK
ATTEND THE TRIAL, AND FIND THAT SAUCE FOR THE ENG-
LISH GOOSE IS NOT ALWAYS SAUCE FOR THE GANDER.

London, December 31st, 1853.

Dear Major : — It is reasonable to expect that, in a
country where the men are bloodthirsty and savage in
their tempers and conduct, the women will partake more
or less of the same characteristics. It would be strange,
too, in such a country, where husbands are in the constant
habit of murdering and otherwise maltreating their wives,
if the latter were not sometimes driven to acts of despe-
rate wickedness. Accordingly, it is true, as you may
have inferred from the facts which I have already fur-
nished you, that the women of England have a share in
the cruelties and crimes, and more especially in the horrid
murders, which abound there. It is true, and must be
confessed, that, if domestic Tarquins do abound in this
land, and frequently make victims of their wives, an
Aruns here occasionally finds his Tullia.

After the long list of ferocious murders of wives by
their husbands which you have been reading, it will, per-
haps, be almost a gratification to be reminded that the
wives "turn the tables" on their husbands here some-
times. Before proceeding with other remarkable illustra-
tions of the cruel treatment of women which prevails in
England, and by way of somewhat diversifying the gloomy
interest of the subject, I will call your attention to a few
cases of the murder of husbands by wives.

In my letter of October 15th, last, I mentioned to you
the case of Maria Cage, who poisoned her husband with

268

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

arsenic. In the same letter, I referred to the remarkable
case of Sarali Chesham, who was executed for a similar
offence. Here is an interesting case, taken from the " Ob-
server" of September 1st, 1851, and by that paper copied
from the " Ipswich Express."

"FORTUNE TELLING AND POISONING.

At the petty sessions for the Wisbech division, Catherine
Dancock, of Wisbech, was committed for seventeen days for
pretending to tell the fortune of Hannah Neale, of Outwell, the
unhappy woman who now stands committed for the murder of
her husband. The case was proved by her sister-in-law, who
accompanied the prisoner to the house of Dancock on the 17th
of July last. Dancock gave Hannah Neale a pack of cards
to shuffle, and desired her to cut them three times, which having
done, she returned the cards, and Dancock then placed nine
of them upon the table with their faces upwards, and in read-
ing from them said, ' Your husband won't live long, for all the
dark cards lay before him ; you will be married to Cater, have
two children, aud keep a public house.' Upon hearing this,
the infatuated woman desired Dancock to write a letter for her
to Cater in the following words : ' My husband has been very
ill, and I thought he would have died. I wish you to come
home at Michaelmas, as I want to see you.' The letter was
signed with the initial letters H. N., and addressed "Church
Cater, Sheffield. Neale paid 3d. for the prediction, and was
to pay 3d. more for the letter writing when she next went to
the house. It was their second visit, they having been there
about six weeks previously, when Mrs. Dancock pretended to
reveal to them the future. They had also visited a Mrs. Mudd,
at Upwell, for a similar purpose, and she was also summoned,
but for want of sufficient evidence was discharged.

As it appeared from the evidence against Hannah Neale,
on a charge of poisoning her husband at Outwell, that she had
purchased two quantities of arsenic at the shops of John W.
Feast and Henry Whitaker, these parties were on Monday
charged before the magistrates, at Downham, with having sold
to Hannah Neale a quantity of arsenic, without having com-
plied with the provisions of an act recently passed for the sale
of poisons. This act renders it imperative that before the
arsenic is delivered to the purchaser, the seller shall enter in a
book kept for the purpose the date of the sale, the Christian
name and surname of the purchaser, the purchaser's place of

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

269

abode, the condition and occupation of the purchaser, the quan-
tity of arsenic sold, and the purpose for which it is required ;
and also, that before the arsenic is delivered, it must be mixed
with soot or indigo, in certain proportions. In neither of the
above cases had any of these stipulations been complied with ;
and each of the parties rendered themselves liable to a penalty
of £20 ; but this being the first case which has occurred since
the passing of the act, and the object of the information being
rather to give publicity to its provisions than to punish the
offenders, the magistrates allowed the information to be with-
drawn, upon the parties paying the costs incurred, expressing
a hope that it would act as a caution to other dealers in poison ;
but it is lamentable to reflect that the life of a fellow-creature
was probably sacrificed by this neglect of the provisions of the
law." — Ipswich Express.

A sim lar murder occurred last year, the report of
which I send you. It is almost as atrocious as any of the
crimes with which I have made you acquainted, and cer-
tainly affords evidence of shocking social depravity.

"A WIFE POISONS HER HUSBAND IN SUSSEX.

On Monday, a second inquest was held at Chiddingley, eight
miles from Lewes, before Mr. Gell, the county coroner, on Wil-
liam French, an agricultural laborer, aged 35 years. The de-
ceased had been married nine years to Sarah Ann French, and
was generally considered sound and healthy ; but a couple of
days before the tth ult, he took suddenly ill, and died on that
day. There was no suspicion entertained of unfair treatment,
and an inquest was held on the body, and a verdict of ' Died
from natural causes' was returned. But circumstances subse-
quently led Mr. Flanagan, superintendent of constabulary, to
institute inquiries, which led to the apprehension of deceased's
widow, and the coroner re-opened the inquiry. On this second
inquest it appeared that a couple named Pelling resided in the
same house with the Frenches, and on the morning of Wednes-
day, the 7th (the day of the death), Mrs. Pelling called in to
see Mrs. French. She asked French how he was, and he said
he was better. At eleven o'clock that night, Mrs. French
rapped smartly at the partition dividing her apartments from
those of the Pellings, and said, 'Make as much haste as you
can.' Mrs. Pelling got up and hastened in to Mrs. French,
who said, 1 1 think my husband is gone ;' and that he had been
23*

270

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

taken ill, and had vomited after Christmas Eve, and that he
had suffered from a rupture. A young man, named James
Hickman, had often been at French's house, but it did not
appear that French complained of Hickman's visits.

A variety of evidence was given as to the treatment of the
deceased, and it appeared that at Christmas medicine had been
supplied to him by Mr. Holman, the surgeon, for pains in the
bowels ; but his death was nevertheless sudden, for his brother,
who worked with him, was unaware of his indisposition, until
he was called up at one o'clock on the morning of his death,
and on going in, found him dead. He had not heard until
then that he was ruptured. He asked Mrs. French how he
1 went off?' She said he turned in his bed, and said, ' You are
my wife, haint you V and then died.

On the Monday previous to his death, Mrs. French was met
by a woman named Sale, and said, * I have been that way
(meaning the way that led to the church) once too often.'
Sale asked was that when she went to be married ? She an-
swered, 'Yes.' This, however, was said in a joking mood,
and the general evidence showed that she and French lived on
good terms together. With respect to her applying for and
procuring arsenic, some rather strong and probably conclusive
evidence was adduced. On the day before French died she is
described as having visited the shop of Mr. Uriah Clark, of
Dicker, and asking him whether he sold arsenic. She stated
she wanted it for a farmer. She, however, was told that it
was not kept there, and she went away.

Naomi Crowhurst, the wife of Owen Crowhurst, a farrier, at
Horsebridge, deposed that about three weeks ago, in the be-
ginning of the week, she recollected seeing Sarah Ann French,
the widow of the deceased, come into her kitchen to see her
servant, Harriette Wilmshurst. When she came in, she asked
for two pennyworth of arsenic. The witness (Mrs. Crowhurst)
at first said she had not got any, and then asked her what she
wanted it for. Mrs. French replied she was overrun with
mice. After some further inquiries, however, and being cau-
tioned as to how she left it about the house, she was served
with a small parcel of white arsenic. Mrs. Crowhurst did not
weigh it, but wrote the word ' poison' upon it, and told her to
be very careful, as many people might mistake it for magnesia,
and that several people had been poisoned by it. She replied,
' Oh I has there V She tendered Is. in payment. She was
charged 3d. for the packet, and received back the change. On
the 28th inst., Mrs. Crowhurst saw Mrs. French at a public-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

271

house called the Gun. At that time she was dressed as a
widow, and it was suggested, in order that there should be no
mistake about her identification, that she should dress herself
in the apparel she had on when she procured the poison. She
did so, and Mrs. Crowhurst recognized her as the person who
had purchased the arsenic, as she had stated. Mrs. French
remarked that she had never seen her before, but the servant,
Harriette Wilmshurst, was called, and she confirmed in every re-
spect the testimony of her mistress. She also had no doubt
of Mrs. French being the person who. was supplied with the
packet of arsenic. On being apprehended, she stated to Su-
perintendent Flanigan that she never purchased any arsenic
in her life, but that at Christmas her husband had bought two
separate halfpennyworths to kill mice ; and that if any poison
were found in him, he must have taken it himself, as he was
very low at Christmas about some bills coming in. She said
he was not attended by any medical man, that he took ill on
Sunday night, was better on Monday, worse on Tuesday, and
died on Wednesday.

Mr. Holman, surgeon, deposed to the result of a post mortem
examination.

Mr. Alfred S. Taylor, professor of chemistry of Guy's Hos-
pital, deposed to making the usual analysis of the contents
of the stomach, and finding arsenic in sufficient quantities to
cause death.

James Hickman, whose appearance was very youthful, de-
posed that he had known Mrs. French for twelve months, and
that he used to visit her house, as he was courting her sister,
Jane Piper. He said that Mrs. French was very fond of him,
but that he had no improper intimacy with her during her hus-
band's lifetime. She had often kissed him, and she said she
loved him, but he refused to have any intimacy with her during
her husband's lifetime. She then asked him would he marry
her if her husband was dead, and he replied, ' Yes, as her sister,
wThom he was courting, had got another man.' She said she
expected a little money, about £100. On Christmas Eve de-
ceased ate onion pie for supper. No one else tasted it. Mrs.
French gave witness a ring a month before Christmas to keep
in remembrance of her, and she said she would expect him to
give her a ring when they were married. He repeated that
he never was improperly intimate with her during her husband's
lifetime.

The prisoner, after being duly cautioned by the coroner, said

272

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

she was quite innocent, and that she never bought arsenic in
her life.

The coroner summed up, and the jury returned a verdict of
wilful murder against Sarah, otherwise Sarah Ann French.

She was committed to the county jail for trial at the next
assizes: On arriving at the jail she was seized with alarming
illness, but was restored in about two hours by medical aid." — ■
Observer, February Wi, 1852.

As Lewes, where I was informed the trial of this
woman would take place, was comparatively a short dis-
tance from London, being situated in Sussex, but little
more than an hour's ride by rail, south from the metro-
polis ; and as it was an ancient historical locality which I
desired to see, I determined to attend the sessions of the
court there. I went down, therefore, in time for the trial.
The evidence submitted was very much the same as that
which was before the coroner's inquest, and which I have
already furnished. I shall not repeat it, but will send
only a succinct report of it, from a number of the
" Observer."

" HOME CIRCUIT. — LEWES. — SATURDAY.

[Before Mr. Baron Parke. ]

Sarah Anne French, aged twenty-seven, was indicted for
the wilful murder of W. French. The particulars of this case
have already been reported in The Observer. The trial was
commenced on Friday, and terminated last night.

John French, a brother of the deceased, said that the last
time he saw his brother alive was on Christmas Eve, when he
was in very good health. On the morning of the 7th of Janu-
ary, he saw him dead. The prisoner was crying when he got
to the cottage, but he expected to see her hurt a good deal
more. A witness proved that the prisoner had arsenic in her
possession.

Mr. H. Holraan, a surgeon, said he had made a post-mortem
examination of the body, but discovered no cause from which
death could have proceeded. At that time there was no sus-
picion of the deceased having been poisoned. — Dr. Taylor,
who had examined the contents of the intestines, proved the
presence of arsenic. — Mary Bennett stated that when the body
of the deceased was taken up for examination, the prisoner
said all she was afraid of was that they should find poison in

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

273

him. — James Hickman, a young" man, about twenty, was then
examined, and said he had been in the habit of visiting the de-
ceased and the prisoner. He had first gone to the house while
he was courting the prisoner's sister. He was often in the cot-
tage while the deceased was absent, and the prisoner had more
than once told him that she loved him, and she had often* kissed
him. After detailing many familiarities which had taken place
between the prisoner and himself, the witness acknowledged
having had guilty intercourse with her. He denied ever hav-
ing purchased arsenic, or having any in his possession.

On cross-examination, the witness said that the prisoner had
told him that she had got as much as £500, and if she were to
marry him she could keep him without his being obliged to
work. The deceased had bought some arsenic to kill mice
with the day before Christmas Day. The night after the funeral
of the deceased, witness was called out of his bed to go and
see the prisoner, and he went to the cottage and staid the re-
mainder of the night with her. They had some conversation
about the death of her husband, and the prisoner said that if
any poison was found in his body he must have taken it him-
self.

After some further evidence had been given, Mr. Rod well
addressed the jury for the prisoner, and begged that they
would not find her guilty, unless they were of opinion that no
other hand than hers had administered the poison, from which
the deceased had evidently died. He then commented upon
the conduct of Hickman, who, he said, from the gross crimi-
nality of his conduct, was as likely as the prisoner to have
given the poison.

Mr. Baron Parke, in summing up, said that if the jury
thought the poison was administered by any other hand than
that of the prisoner, still if they came to the conclusion that
she was cognizant of the fact, she was equally guilty of the
crime of murder.

The jury, after being absent about two hours, returned into
court with a verdict of Guilty.

The learned judge then put on the black cap, and in a brief
but impressive address, sentenced the prisoner to death, ob-
serving that the enormity of her crime left no hope of mercy
in this world."

My servant was with me, as usual, when I attended
this trial; and after its close, he was very bitter in his
denunciations of the witness Hickman.

274

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

" The low-lived rascal !" he said ; " why, lie aint worth
shucks. Praps the 'oman desarves to die — I reckon she
do ; but maybe I wouldn't rot, ef I was a jurorman,
'fore I'd hang anybody upon sich a feller's evidence. Tell
you what, Marster — that gen'l'man with long har, an a
frock on, that spoke up so mighty smart for the 'oman,
was right when he said that feller was bad as her. He
was woser 'en her, to my mind ; for 'peared like he
wanted her husband pisened, though he was too big a
coward to help her do it ; an arter hit was done, he got
skaad, turned round, an let the cat out o' the bag.
That's the way to tell it, to my mind, Marster. Then
whar was the use o' his tellin 'bout her kissin him an
lovin him so ? My Lord ! heap o' these Inglishmen too
mean. Even poor nigger wouldn't let a 'oman kiss him
an then tell on her."

Myself. " I agree with you, Buck, that he was a very
despicable witness; but there can be no doubt of the
woman's guilt."

Buck. " Looks so to me, Marster; but that Judge
Melud oughten to let the juror put any confidence in that
villain, but told 'um to hang him with her. Nuttier thing
sorter puzzles me, sir — Judge Melud told the 'oman "

Myself. " Who, Buck ? Who told her ?"

Buck, " Judge Melud, sir. Didn't them lawyers call
the Judge ' Melud,' Marster? Aint that his name, sir?"

Myself. " Pshaw, Buck ! They said, or meant to say,
'my lord.' That is the title by which a judge is called
in England."

Buck. " My lord, Marster ! I didn't know, sir, they
was tryin to say 'my lord.' Well, as I was a sayin, sir,
the judge told that 'oman that the normity o' her crime
left her no hope for marcy in this world ; an I couldn't
help thinkin that hit was not adzackly so in them cases
we been seein an hearin of whar the husbands murdered
thar wives in this country. The 'normity o' them crimes
didn't forbid hope o' marcy in this world. I heap o'
times hear say, my Marster, that what is sarce for the
goose is sarce for the gander. But 'pears like 'taint so
with Inglish gander."

Myself. " There is much force in what you say, Buck."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

275

Buck. " Then whar was the use o' the judge puttin' on
that 'bominable black cap to skaar the poor critter with,
when he was gwine to say what he did to her. God knows
he was ugly 'nuff before."

Myself. " The putting on of the black cap by the
judge, when about to pass sentence of death upon a cri-
minal, is a very ancient custom, established in the English
courts, when they were less refined' in their tastes than
they are now, and more addicted to form and ceremony ;
and was intended, I suppose, to be symbolical of the
mournful duty which that officer was about to perform.
It is a form in which the improved taste of the age should
not see much to admire, in my opinion. But the English
people are slow to change their venerable forms, for fear
that respect for the matters of substance of which they
are usually the type, or drapery, should rashly undergo a
change."

Buck. "Fact is, Marster, more I see of this Inglish
people, more it raaly does 'pear to me I never shill git the
hang of thar ways, no way I can fix it."

You shall hear from me again soon, Major; until
when, I am,

Eespectfully,

Your friend and cousin,
P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville G-a. U. S. of America.

276

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR;

LETTEE XXIX.

BRUTAL TREATMENT OF THEIR WIVES BY ENGLISHMEN — MA-
LICIOUS STABBING OF A WIFE SAVAGE AND INHUMAN

CONDUCT TO A WIFE BY HER HUSBAND — ATTEMPTED MUR-
DER OF A WIFE, AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE OF THE HUS-
BAND— ILL-TREATMENT OF A WIFE, AND HER REFUSAL TO
PROSECUTE WIFE-BEATING, AND WIFE REFUSING TO PRO-
SECUTE— THREATENING TO MURDER A WIFE.

London, January 30th, 1854.

Dear Major : — I have not informed you of half the
remarkable instances of brutal violence committed by the
men of England upon their wives, with which I have
been made acquainted during the last three years. I will
now send you some reports of cases less fatal in results
than the murders to which I have called your attention,
but scarcely less atrocious in character.

In the year 1851, a man by the name of McLean was
tried before the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey,
for attempting to murder his wife by hanging her. He
was acquitted. I have not the record of his trial, but
you will find a reference to it in an article contained in
my letter of December 1st, last, and headed " Ill-treat-
ment and Murder of Wives." You will there find an
English editor's opinion of the case, and of the way in
which, to use Buck's figure of speech, the sauce is sup-
plied to the English gander.

Early in 1852 , the following case occurred. It fur-
nishes another illustration of that trait in an English-
lishman's nature, of which Buck has spoken : viz., a
strong propensity, when in a passion with his wife, to
thrust his knife into her throat.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

277

" ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE — MALICIOUSLY STABBING.

At the assizes held at Winchester ("Western Circuit) before
Mr. Justice Talfonrd, Edwin James Harris was indicted for
maliciously stabbing his wife, Mary Harris, with intent to mur-
der her, at Southampton, on the 27th of December. It ap-
peared that these parties, who seemed to be decent kind of
people, had been married twenty years. Differences at last
arose between them, which ended in a separation ; but they
had so far become reconciled as to meet.and walk together, and
shortly before Christmas Day they arranged to dine together
on that day, and he gave her 7 s. 6s. to purchase the dinner.
They met again the next day, and he then wanted some of the
money back again, and she returned him some part of it. He
was in liquor, and she went to his lodging with him to take
care of him. He kissed her many times and cried very much.
She begged him not to cry, and said she would come and see
him in the morning, when he would be better. She left him
and went home. They met again on the 27th of December.
She went to his lodging and made his tea. He cried and kissed
her. They saw his landlord, who said he wondered he would
be seen with his wife after what he had called her. His coun-
tenance instantly changed. She said he dared not repeat the
word in her presence, and she became angry, and said if he
repeated it, she would slap his face ; she had always been a
faithful and virtuous wife to him, and had supported herself by
stay-making during the time she lived separately from him.
After the words had passed in the public house, they left, and
walked together some distance without speaking a word. At
length the prisoner said, ' What did he say V alluding to what
the landlord had said. He then said, ' There's no knowing the
heart of any man and he began to push his wife. She told
him not to do so. He laid hold of her, and she thought he
was going to kiss her. She remonstrated with him, and she
then saw him draw a knife from his pocket, and he attempted
to cut her throat. She screamed, and they fell — he was still
endeavoring to cut her throat. The cuts went through her
shawl, bonnet, and ribands, and five wounds were inflicted on
her face and neck. At the instant a young woman came up
and seized the hand in which was the knife, and pulled his head
back. She contrived to hold his hand and the knife for some
time, till he got his hand away, and again cut at his wife, who
screamed 1 Murder,' and said, 4 My dear, don't cut my throat.'
24

278

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

The other woman said, ' You bad man, you've killed the
woman,' and she ran and procured assistance. She returned
and took the prisoner by the collar. He said, ' I am not going
to run away.' She said, 'I'll take care you don't, you bad
man;' and she gave him into the custody of two policemen.
The wife was confined to her bed for some time ; the wounds
did not heal for nearly a month, and were still at times very
painful. When the prisoner was sober, he was very kind to
his wife, but he was given to drink, and was then very excita-
ble ; he would change in a moment. When the prisoner was
taken he said his wife was a brute, and had taken the knife out
of his pocket and tried to cut his throat. The knife was a
common pruning knife. There was blood on the ground.

Mr. C. Saunders addressed the jury with considerable force
for the prisoner, contending that there was not a deliberate in-
tention to murder the wife. Two days before the man had
treated her with the greatest kindness and affection ; he had
cried, he had kissed her, he was anxious to forgive and forget ;
but on the unfortunate day when this had happened, the land-
lord had made use of an expression which touched that chord
which had been wounded. His countenance altered in a mo-
ment, his whole feelings became changed, his jealousy was
again roused, but still he did not intend to murder. He walked
with his wife ; not a word passed for some time ; the expres-
sion of the landlord was rankling in his heart, and he asked
what words the man had used ; the wife would not answer,
and in a moment of uncontrolled jealous, drunken passion, he
had drawn the knife from his pocket, and had acted in the
manner which had been related to them.

Mr. Justice Talfourd having summed up, the jury returned
a verdict of guilty, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and
the prisoner was sentenced to be transported for life.

The learned judge told the young woman who had rendered
such assistance, that he could not let her go without saying
how much they were all indebted to her for the great courage
she had displayed ; he had never heard of any one acting so
well. He had the power of awarding a small sum to a person
for apprehending a felon, and he should, therefore, in this case,
award her £5, and he hoped she would purchase some trifle
that might be kept by her and her family in remembrance of
her courageous act." — Observer, March 8th, 1852.

The following case was before one of the magistrates'
sessions in the city during the last month ; and it affords

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

279

ou another fine specimen of a cowardly and ruffian wife-

"At Worship street, on Thursday, George Snowden, a cabi-
net-maker, was charged with brutal conduct to his wife. The
wife, a pale, delicate woman, said she had been ten months
married, and during that time her husband had so continually
ill-treated her, that she sank under it, and was seized with brain
fever and sent to an hospital. Typhus fever supervened, and
after being in the hospital six weeks, she was slowly recovering,
when the prisoner called and promised to treat her kindly if
she returned home. He so strongly entreated her that she
consented, and left the hospital, against the advice of the sur-
geons, a week before she ought to have been discharged. The
prisoner, however, continued his ill-treatment, and on the pre-
ceding evening, at her father's house in Boston street, Hack-
ney, he made himself so disagreeable as to cause a few words,
and in a violent passion he demanded the key of his house, and
said that if she set a foot in doors that night, he would break
her neck down stairs. She refused to give the key, and he left
her father's without it, but immediately returned and ordered
her to look for something he had left behind him. She looked
for it, but could not find it, and on telling him so at the door,
as he would not come in, he struck her senseless to the ground
with a violent blow in the eye, and the back of her head was
injured by falling on the floor. From his constant threats her
life was not safe.

Richard Barnfeather, the wife's father, a respectable, grey-
headed man, aged 60, said that, bad as his wife's account was,
she had concealed the worst part ; for, when witness, on hear-
ing her screams, went to the parlor, he found her prostrate on
the floor from another blow from the prisoner. Witness inter-
posed to protect her, and the prisoner pulled off his coat and
challenged him to fight, although he knew that witness labored
under many infirmities. 'My wife and an aged mother,' said
the witness, 'are quite ill from his conduct; his conduct is
most cowardly and outrageous, and any means you could de-
vise for putting a stop to it would be a boon to us. For ten
months we have had no peace ; he has destroyed his wife's
clothing, driven her to the hospital with inflammation and
typhus — illness occasioned entirely by his provoking conduct,
and, although she had always before her marriage, been strong
and healthy, she is now so weak that her feet would scarcely

280

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

support her to this court. In fact, he has almost worried her
to death.'

John Richardson, complainant's brother-in-law, and a much
less man than the prisoner, said that when the prisoner struck
his wife senseless he ran away, and witness stepped over her
body, pursued him, overtook him at a baker's shop, and took
him by the collar. The prisoner immediately put up his hand,
and said, ' I will go quietly anywhere with you, if you will not
strike me.' Witness held him till a constable came, and then
gave him in charge. The prisoner pleaded aggravation, and
treated the matter very lightly.

Mr. Hammill said : Your whole conduct has been what might
be expected from such a man, and only proves that cowards
who practise such brutality upon their wives always shrink
from the slightest injury to themselves. It is a very bad case,
and you will go to the House of Correction for six months, with
hard labor, and at the expiration of that time, you must put in
two substantial bail in £20 each for your peaceable behavior
for the further term of six months, or remain committed in
default."— Observer, December IWi, 1853.

If you should suspect, as I did at first, that such dis-
graceful violence is confined to the very lowest classes
among this people, you will have your mind disabused of
this impression by the following, among other cases. You
will find the throat-cutting passion as strong in this per-
son, who was probably entitled to write himself gentle-
man, as in some of the laborers and artizans whom we
have had under review.

"ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A WIFE, AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

At Bow street, on Wednesday, William Entwistle Willis, a
law writer, 61 years of age, was brought up in custody from
King's College Hospital, charged with stabbing his wife in the
throat, and subsequently attempting to commit suicide, on
Christmas day last. Mary Willis, the prosecutrix, of 5 Lee's
buildings, Chancery lane, stated that she had been married to
the prisoner about twenty-three years, and within twelve months
after her marriage, he was committed for seven days from the
Hatton Garden police court for assaulting her with a poker.
They had lived together very unhappily ever since, and had
had six children. For the last three or four years they had
slept in separate beds, and for more than eleven months past

BILLY BUCK S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

he had not contributed a penny towards her support. She
had worked for her own living, and had paid the rent of the
lodging's herself. On Christmas Eve she went to bed shortly
after twelve, and about two hours afterwards was aroused from
her sleep by her husband, who came into the room without a
light, and got into her bed. He said, 1 Poll, I am come to you,
for I am so cold.' She replied merely, 'Then, why come to
me if you are cold V Iu the next moment she received a vio-
lent stab from a sharp-pointed knife,- which severed her ear
and entered her throat ; and, in raising her hand to resist him,
she received a severe cut upon her fingers. She then called,
as loudly as she was able, to a Mr. Hyatt, who lived at the
bottom of the house, exclaiming, 'My husband has stabbed
me.' Hyatt and his son came to her assistance, the prisoner,
in the meantime, having gone back to his own room. A sur-
geon was sent for, and her wounds were dressed under his
direction. The next morning her daughter found the carving-
knife produced in her (witness') bed, stained with blood.
Hyatt deposed that, on finding Mrs. Willis's bed linen satu-
rated with blood, and a pool of blood on the floor, he sent for
a surgeon, and then went to the room of the prisoner, whom
he found wrapped up in some bed clothing, with several wounds
in the throat. The prisoner said, ' If she is not dead, my hand
must have been nervous.' They had lived in his house five
years, and quarrelled on account of the man's drunken habits.
He latterly spent all his money in drink. The wife was a well-
conducted, hard-working woman, although occasionally indulg-
ing in a glass.

The prisoner : Have you never seen her lifted upstairs drunk
by her own children ?

Witness : Never ; but I have often seen you in that predi-
cament.

The prisoner here accused his wife of infidelity. His wife
denied this, and Hyatt said her conduct had been most proper
while lodging at his house.

Mr. Jones, surgeon, deposed that the wound in complain-
ant's throat was close to the artery, and if deeper, it would
have been fatal.

Mr. Taylor, surgeon of the King's College Hospital, said
that the wounds in the prisoner's throat were skin wounds from
a razor ; none of them dangerous.

The prisoner reserved his defence, and asked to be allowed
a glass of beer, as he had had nothing in the hospital for
eleven davs but rice-water.
24*

282

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

Mr. Henry said the medical men knew best what to give
him, and their order must be attended to. He was committed
for tri-al"— Observer, Jan. 16th, 1854.

In the same paper from which the above is taken, I
find the two cases following :

"BRUTAL TREATMENT OF WOMEN — REFUSAL OF A WIFE TO
PROSECUTE.

At Guildhall, on Monday, Adolphus Johnson was charged
on remand with having assaulted his wife. The officer said
the wife had been in the hospital, but was now able to attend
if she chose. The defendant's master here stated that he had
seen the wife, who had received a severe injury on the forehead,
apparently inflicted by a poker. The wife told him that she
was letting her husband in at one o'clock in the morning in a
state of intoxication, when he assaulted her, as he had fre-
quently done before. Witness therefore felt it his duty to state
these facts, as the wife persisted in not attending. The defen-
dant said that as his wife had forgiven him, he hoped the
magistrate would forgive him also.

Alderman Challis said that though the wife was satisfied, he
was not. Such a case should not be dismissed merely because
a wife wished to screen the man who ill-treated her, and in
every such case he was determined to send the offender to
prison for six months. He should, therefore, remand the case,
and order the officer to summons the wife, and if she refused to
attend, he would issue a warrant.

Defendant : May I give bail in the interim ?

Alderman Challis : Certainly not. You must go to prison.

" WIFE BEATING — WIFE REFUSING TO PROSECUTE.

At Worship street, on Monday, Michael Regan, bricklayer's
laborer, was charged on remand with assaulting his wife, and
thereby placing her life in danger. Mr. D'Eyncourt said that
it was a most brutal outrage, but as it appeared perfectly mani-
fest that the prisoner would altogether escape punishment, from
the affectionate and forgiving feeling which was now displayed
towards him by his unfortunate wife, if he sent him before a
jury, as he had originally intended, he should deal summarily
with the case, and sentence him to six months' hard labor in
the House of Correction."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

283

A paper of to-day furnishes the following reports :

"ILL-TREATMENT OF WOMEN — THREATENING TO MURDER A
WIFE.

At Westminster, on "Wednesday, Henry Hill, of 4t Vincent
square, formerly clerk to Mr. Draper, solicitor, was charged
with threatening to murder his wife. Mrs. Mary Hill, the wife,
said that on Sunday morning, the defendant took up a knife,
and said he would stab her if she interfered with him that day.
She had not spoken to him before he us,ed the threat. He had
frequently threatened her before He had never struck her,
but had repeatedly twisted her arms round in the sockets, so as
to cause much pain. She is nine years married to him, and
has four young children. He has no reason for such conduct
to her. He never complains of her conduct. On Sunday
morning he called her niece, and because she did not answer
immediately, he said it was through her (witness') tuition.
The other morning, at three o'clock, when witness was in bed,
he threatened to murder her, because when he came up, after
sitting two hours by himself in the kitchen, the candle was
nearly out.

In defence, the defendant expressed sorrow for his conduct,
and said it was the effect of his having been drinking on the
night before.

The wife : He was certainly tipsy on the Saturday night ;
but one day, when he was perfectly sober, he told me that
sometimes at night he thought of getting up and cutting my
throat. This so alarmed me, that I refused to sleep with him,
and had my mother in the house, and he came to my bed-room
and demanded admittance. I was so terrified that I called the
police, but they would not interfere.

Mr. Arnold to defendant : If you use such threats, your wife
must be protected.

The defendant : There is no danger now, we are going to
separate.

Mr. Arnold to complainant : Is it so ?

Complainant: I very much wish it. Besides his threats I
have had for a year and a half to support myself and children
by my own exertions. I was never brought up to anything
of the sort. I had money when I married, but he soon ran
through it. I now support myself by dressmaking, through
the assistance of some kind ladies. The defendant was bound
over to keep the peace."

28-4

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OK,

"At Southwark, on "Wednesday, John Finnigan, a respect-
able looking man, was charged with beating Ellen Finnigan,
his wife. The wife, a middle-aged woman, whose face was
dreadfully lacerated and swollen, said she had been married to
the prisoner about four years, and had had two children by
him. They resided in Chapel-court, Southwark, and, until
within the last twelve months, they had lived very comfortably
together, but since then his habits had greatly changed, and
he had- often struck her, but she had hitherto refrained from
making any complaint against him, in the hope that he would
return to his former good conduct. On Tuesday he went, as
usual, to his work, and between twelve and one o'clock in the
morning he returned home in a state of intoxication, and im-
mediately began to abuse her. She made no reply, but placed
his supper before him, when he struck her a violent blow in
the face, and, on her making an attempt to leave the room, he
locked the door, and knocked her down, and, while she was
lying on the floor, he kicked her repeatedly with great force,
on the head and body, till she became insensible. Some per-
sons who lodged in the house called a policeman, who came
and rescued her from her husband's violence. — Defendant : I
am willing to allow her a separate maintenance, if the charge
be withdrawn. — Mr. Combe : What, after you have nearly
murdered her ? You must first suffer six months' hard labor
in the House of Correction, before you can be allowed to talk
of such an arrangement. — The defendant : I hope you will
not send me there. What will become of my children ? — Mr.
Combe : You are a cowardly fellow. Your wife and children
shall be taken care of. — lie was removed."

You will observe that these cases are placed under a
general heading, entitled " Ill-treatment of Women."
This is precisely as it stands in the' paper from which
they are taken, and it appears to have been adopted as a
sort of standard or stationary title in that paper, under
which all such reports are ranged. This fact sufficiently
shows the frequency of this wife-butchering, woman-beat-
ing system in England. It speaks volumes of itself. But
the editor shall still further enlighten you on the subject
in my next.

Continue to believe me,

Very respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

To Maj. J. Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Georgia, U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

285

LETTEE XXX.

BARBAROUS AND SHOCKING ILL-TREATMENT OF WOMEN IN
ENGLAND — NEW CHRISTMAS SPORTS, WHERE THE NOSES OF
WOMEN, ONLY, GET SMASHED, AND THETR EYES KNOCKED

OUT ATROCIOUS OUTRAGE UPON A WOMAN A YOUNG GIRL

OUTRAGED A WOMAN SHOT BY HER LOVER BUCK FINDS

THE DIFFICULTY OF UNDERSTANDING u THE WAYS'' OF
ENGLISHMEN INCREASING A LONDON MAGISTRATE CERTI-
FIES TO THE CHIVALRIC TREATMENT OF WOMEN BY AME-
RICANS.

London, February 18th, 1854.

Dear Major : — The savage violence to which I have
been calling your attention is not perpetrated upon their
wives only by Englishmen. It manifests itself in the
treatment which the weaker sex generally receives at the
hands of those who should be their protectors. I will
make it my business now to send you some specimens of
as brutal and inhuman treatment of the women by the
men of this country as ever occur in the most barbarous
nations of the world. Indeed, I know not that any re-
ports of the most degraded and barbarous tribes on our
globe furnish such evidence of revolting and shocking
inhumanity to the women of the land.

I am afraid, Major, that I shall weary you with so
many horrible pictures of savage and bloody deeds ; but
I have used strong language in the charge which I have
brought against this English people, and I must make out
my case, and sustain my assertions, at the risk of a trial
to your nerves.

That I have not been influenced by prejudice in making
these charges and assertions, is sufficiently proven, I hope,
by the facts which I have submitted for your considera-
tion. To prove that I have not been so influenced, and
that I have kept within the bounds of moderation in the
language I have employed, I further call as a witness an

286 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

Englishman, the editor of a London journal ; and I fur-
nish you with what he says, in even stronger terms than
I have used, on this subj ect.

During the early part of last year, appeared the follow-
ing editorial article in the " London Observer." It was
the honest outburst of a just indignation, excited by some
of the shocking cases of barbarity and cruelty which had
been reported as having occurred a short time previously,
and during the Christmas 'holidays. To some of these I
shall probably hereafter call your attention.

"NEW CHRISTMAS SPORTS.

In ancient days, when wassail ruled the land, it was the
Christmas custom for our ancestors to belabor one another in
their cups, until the victor and the vanquished lay insensate
beneath the table ; in these dayj? however, we have changed
all this. Our men of mettle now get drunk as of yore — that
seems a condition inherent in Anglo-Saxon humanity ; but
they go on safer grounds of quarrel, for at present they belabor
only defenceless and unoffending women. In fact, as regards
what Winifred Jenkins terms 'the fair sect,' the London of
this day, especially in seasons of general rejoicing, is even
worse than the London of the days of the Spectator ; for if
the town had then its Mohawks, who 1 pinked' the passers by
secundem artem (always be it understood, only those who
wore breeches), it has now its brutal ruffians, who, too cautious
or too cowardly to 'ruffle' with their fellow-men, vent all their
villanous instincts upon the weaker portion of the creation,
smashing their noses, knocking out their eyes, and breaking
their limbs ad libitum.

What is worse, these ferocious scoundrels — more brutal in
this respect than the wild beast — commit those atrocities,
which, it is no exaggeration to state, are unparalleled even in
the annals of savagery, with comparative impunity. A rascal
in broad-cloth, for example — he cannot be called a man — is
brought before a police magistrate for defacing the features
of a poor young woman whom he encounters in the streets for
the first time, as he, staggers along, reeling under the weight
of strong drink, with which he is gorged to repletion. For
this be pleads drunkenness as an excuse ; but there stands the
poor creature, disfigured for ever — her nose broken, her eye

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

287

smashed ; and all his apologies cannot restore her the fright of
the one, or the symmetry of the other. Of course the magis-
trate is all virtuous indignation, and he reads, belike, a homily
upon the vice of intoxication, which the scarcely sobered
scoundrel in broad-cloth probably does not comprehend ; and
the victim of his brutality sobs and cries as if her heart would
break, even for her butcher — 1 sweet sensibility of woman's
nature,' kc. ; and every one, even the callous jailor of the
court, is prepared to hear the maximum punishment awarded
as sentence — and 1 serve the fellow right,' as they all say. But
lo and behold, it all ends in fumo — 'words, words, words' —
'Pay a fine of 40s., or go to prison for two months,' is the
magisterial alternative offered to the scoundrel at the bar ;
and as the scoundrel at the bar, quite delighted with the option,
clinks his cash upon the counter of the shop — begging the
magistrate's pardon, it must be a shop, where justice is sold,
and passes out of custody into a condition of undeserved free-
dom, he chuckles at the police, probably ' tips' them ' a little
sixpence,' and leaves the shop — or court — in triumph, without
even casting a remorseful glance at the cowering creature,
who, in the expressive language of the poor, he has 1 made an
object of for life."

You will not wonder at this strong language, when
you come to learn something of other cases than those
alluded to by this writer, as well as something more of
the details of some of the " New Christmas Sports "
to which he does refer.

"What, for example, do you think of the following ? If
the fiends from the bottomless pit were unchained and
turned loose upon earth, do you think they could get up
a scene more strikingly in character ?

"MOST ATROCIOUS OUTRAGE.

At the Chester Assizes, on Friday, before Mr. Baron Mar-
tin, Richard Kear, twenty-four, James James, eighteen, George
Charles, twenty-two, Thomas Stephens, twenty-one, and
Thomas James, twenty, colliers in the Forest of Dean, were
indicted for having violated the person of Mary M'Carthy, on
the night of Tuesday, the 29th of July, at the parish of Lyd-
ney. This case was peculiarly atrocious. The prosecutrix,

288

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

an Irish woman, aged thirty-five, and not at all handsome, left
Ireland seven years ago, and had lived as a servant for some
time in London, and lately went to Cardiff and Bristol to look
after a brother, who, she was told, worked on some of the rail-
way lines, and as she travelled alone, she subsisted by some-
times working at needle-work for the country people, and oc-
casionally by haymaking. Whilst going from Chepstow to
Gloucester, on the 29th of July, passing through the Forest
of Dean about two o'clock, A. M., by a bye road leading to
the main road, she was very weak and ill ; and not knowing
her way, got benighted in the forest, and went towards a fire,
which turned out to be in ah uncovered hovel near the mouth
of a coalpit. Exhausted with fatigue, cold, and hunger, she
lay down near the fire, and shortly afterwards two of the pri-
soners came and spoke to her. She told them she was very
ill, and asked for a drink of water. They told her to go to
the Nag's Head public house, one hundred yards off, where
she could get water in the yard. She got up and struggled
to the yard, but could find no water there, and, being a stranger,
without money, she did not like to go into the house, and turned
back towards the fire. In returning, two men and a woman
met her. They said that if she went down the road she could
get some water. She was going down, when Kear came up,
pretended to compassionate her, put a shawl round her neck,
and told her that if she went back he would bring her some
water. Believing that he pitied her, she went back to the
fire, and Kear returned with another man, who brought some
water to her in a pitcher. It appeared that a club of colliers
was that night drinking at the Nag's Head, and when she
drank the water, they all came about her, and asked, was she
better ? She was frightened, and said, 'No.' Kear then said,
' There is a house here ; I am master of it ; nobody shall inter-
fere with you.' She said she would rather stay at the fire,
being cold and ill. George Charles then jumped up and said
she should go. She saw them whispering. Kear said she
should go. She refused as often as twenty times. Kear and
Charles then ordered the two men beside her to take her into
the cabin. One of the men was James, the other was not in
court ; he fetched the water. Charles took a shovel, held it
over her head, and said he would burn her in the fire if she did
not go in, and that one person was burnt there before. An-
other said there was. There were nine or ten men there.
They then took her in like a prisoner. There was a large fire
in the cabin. Charles brought in two shovels of red coals.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

289

Kear opened the door. Charles walked out when he put on
the coals. Kear stood outside, and some one locked the door.
James and the man who fetched the water remained inside.
That man then came opposite to her. James sat by her side
and held her arms behind her back. The prosecutor then de-
tailed her sufferings from the nine men, whilst they ill-used her.
She cried out ' murder,' and he and those outside laughed at
her. James James acted with peculiar barbarity, the revolt-
ing details of which the witness described. Stephens and
Thomas James acted with a little more mercy. Only five of
the men are yet arrested. James James was such a brute, that
not content with the outrages by himself and eight others, he
went to the Nag's Head, and endeavored to rouse up another
collier to assault her, but who was so drunk that he could not
be awakened. He afterwards deposed to that fact. By this
time day was dawning, and she was scarcely able to move.
She sat against a form, and Kear came in and said she might
stop in the cabin till seven in the morning, and he would give
her the key, and she might lock the door on the inside, but
George Charles came in, seized a shovel, and said he would
1 kill her if she did not leave.' She went out down the road.
Thomas Stephens and three others came up and said, 'Well,
missus, what is the matter with you ?' She said, ' You know
well; you have almost killed me.' She went towards a house,
and Stephens said he would kill her if she went towards it.
She met a woman, and afterwards went to a hayrick and lay
down ; she was afterwards taken to the Westburn-on- Severn
Workhouse. — Cross-examined : Has a child ; is not married ;
was six or seven weeks in Bristol. Has a brother on the rail-
ways, and was going to look for him. — Anne Jenkins deposed
that she met the prosecutrix on the road about five o'clock in
the morning, with her hands on her stomach, crying dreadfully,
and saying she had been almost torn to pieces. — William Elli-
son, policeman, found prosecutrix at three or four in the after-
noon of that day lying on a hayrick, and so weak as to be un-
able to stand. A woman gave her a little wine, and witness
had her removed to the workhouse. — The surgeon of the work-
house deposed to her exhausted state, and to the shocking
lacerations she suffered, especially from James James using his
hands in a brutal manner. — For the defence, Air. Cooke ad-
dressed the jury, and called a witness who knew one of the
prisoners for three months, and gave him a character for that
period. — The judge summed up, and the jury, after one
minute's deliberation, found all the prisoners Guilty. — The
25 T

290

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

judge said the offence was the most abominable he had ever
heard proved in a court of justice. Bad not the law been
altered, he would have left them all for execution, except
Stephens and Thomas James, who, bad as they were, treated
the woman with some little kindness. Richard Kear, James
James, and George Charles, were then sentenced to transpor-
tation for life, and Thomas Stephens, and Thomas James, to
transportation for fifteen years." — Observe?', August 18th,
1851.

A few days later, the following case, of similar, if not
of such intense atrocity, occurred. The ruffian was tried
and convicted in the Central Criminal Court.

"CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

A Miscreant. — On Tuesday, in the Third Court, Thomas
Spurrier, twenty, a glass-blower, was indicted before Russell
Gurney for unlawfully inflicting on Sarah Elizabeth Brown,
grievous bodily harm, by violently assaulting and beating her.
The prosecutrix, a young woman apparently about eighteen
years of age, having been sworn, stated that she was a nursery-
maid, and resided at No. 6 Anne place, Ball's pond. On the
evening of the 22d of July, at about five o'clock in the after-
noon, she was going along the broad path near Hornsey Wood
House. She saw the prisoner and two other young men in a
field close by. There were two young women ahead of her
on the same path. After she had passed down the lane in the
wood, she stopped to look round, when some one came up and
struck her a violent blow on the ear. She turned round and
saw that it was the prisoner, and he immediately struck her
another and more violent blow on the eye, which knocked her
down. The prisoner then fell on to her with great violence,
sticking his knees on her stomach so as to nearly deprive her
of her senses. He then continued to behave in the most in-
famous manner. She struggled as much as her exhausted con-
dition would permit of to prevent the prisoner from accom-
plishing the purpose for which he had evidently attacked her.
Prisoner had by this time dragged her some short distanco
into the wood, holding her all the time by the throat, and en-
deavoring to stifle her cries by squeezing her tightly. Find-
ing that she still resisted him he drew a large clasp knife from
his pocket, and with the most violent and disgusting language
said he would cut her head off if she did not submit to If <

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

291

desires. Some boys coming up at the time, the prisoner re-
linquished his hold of her and ran away, throwing away the
knife before he was secured. Her nose bled very profusely ;
her eyes were swollen, and she was in great pain from the treat-
ment she had experienced, and since that period she had been
subject to fits arising out of the fright and ill-treatment, and
was still very unwell. In answer to Mr. O'Brien, the prose-
cutrix said that she had not been drinking with the prisoner,
nor was he known to her in any way. Two other witnesses
having deposed to similar facts, the jury found the prisoner
Guilty, and he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. —
The prisoner shed tears on hearing his sentence." — Observer,
September 1st, 1851.

In the course of the year 1852, the following curious
case occurred :

"A WOMAN SHOT BY HER LOVER.

A crime was perpetrated on Friday week at Xewport, which,
it is feared, will terminate in the death of the victim — a middle-
aged, handsome woman, named Etheridge, who has been shot
at by her sweetheart, named Samuel Greening, formerly the
guard of a coach, and latterly the assistant of 31iss Etheridge's
blind father, who keeps a public house and a large market-
garden a short distance from the town of Xewport. It appears
that Greening had long paid his addresses to Miss Etheridge,
who is his cousin, and being a resident in the same house, fre-
quently gave her occasion to remonstrate with him on his dis-
sipated habits, he being a member of a band, from whose per-
formance he frequently came home drunk. She refused, it is
stated, to be married to him on the ground of these habits.
This would appear to have caused a fit of jealousy, under the
effects of which he resorted to drink. For two or three days
last week he is stated to have been intoxicated. A continuous
quarrel between himself and ZNIiss Etheridge was the result.
On the day previous to the shocking occurrence he was ob-
served examining a pistol, which Miss Etheridge kept by her,
in consequence of the garden being sometimes visited by plun-
derers, whom she (being a daring woman) would have shot at,
it is supposed, had any come within reach of the house. Green-
ing was seen trying a cap on the pistol, and pretending to fire
up the chimney. The pistol was afterwards found to be missing
from the place where it was usually kept. On the evening in

292

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ; OR,

question, Greening, still under the effects of intoxication and
jealousy, was again quarrelling with his sweetheart, and for a
moment or two was missed from the room where Miss Ethe-
ridge and an assistant gardener were seated at a table. On
Greening's return, he walked up and down the room again,
still bickering with his cousin, when suddenly he rushed up to
where she was sitting, presented a pistol at her, and fired. The
unfortunate woman's shrieks, as she fell down, awoke her father,
who had retired to rest ; and when assistance was procured,
she was taken up insensible, bleeding profusely from the mouth,
ear, and cheek, on the left side of the face ; the contents of the
pistol, which were supposed to be shots or hard wadding,
having entered just below the left ear, fractured the left jaw,
and smashed some of the teeth, passing afterwards through
the mouth. She was at once conveyed to bed, and Mr. Wool-
lett, surgeon, one of the borough magistrates, was called from
^Newport. Greening still remained about the house in a half-
drunken, sullen humor, till he was apprehended by the borough
police, and lodged in the station-house cell The prisoner has
since stated that he was not aware the pistol was loaded,
though this does not agree with the fact of his snapping and
trying it in the chimney on the previous day. He is also stated
to have told his victim that, if she did not have him, but mar-
ried auother, it should be no good to her — he would prevent
her happiness. The woman, when consciousness was in some
measure restored, in the course of the night frequently expressed
a desire to see Greening, and appeared to feel deeply from the
consideration that he would have to suffer in prison for what
he had done. Both her father and herself, it was thought,
would further avoid giving evidence against the prisoner, if
possible. On Saturday the prisoner was brought to the bar
of the police. Evidence was taken to establish the charge of
wilfully shooting, but the case had not concluded when our
despatch left." — Observer, September 21th, 1852.

I wish you could have seen Buck's face when I read
the last case, above quoted, in his hearing. No deep-sea
line can be found' on a thousand British decks, long
enough to fathom the unutterable disgust which was de-
picted in his honest face.

Buck. " Lead me into the light of that a little, ef you
please, Marster. Did I onderstand you to say hit was a
onmarried man that did that thing, sir?"

Myself. "Yes."

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 293

Buck. 11 Well, raaly ! An lie shot his sweetheart 'thout
bein married to her?"

Myself. 11 So this report says."

Buck. 11 Well, well, well ! I been all along sorter per-
suadin myself thar.was some sense in these Inglishmen
kiHin thar wives, becase that made way for new ones.
But how a man with breeches on, 'thout sich a temtation,
could shoot a 'oman, an she his sweetheart, too, is a
huckleberry over my persimmon. I give it up."

Accustomed as we are in Georgia to treat the sex so
differently, I think that you will heartily join in Buck's
honest indignation, and agree with him that such a case
presents a moral puzzle to any one brought up in our
State. It is difficult for such an one to express the intense
contempt and disgust he must feel for the great lubberly
coward who could so treat a woman.

About three months subsequently, a man named Ga-
ball, who called himself an American citizen, was charged
before one of the magistrates of the city with having
committed an assault upon a young woman. He may
have been an American citizen, but I strongly suspect he
was only a naturalized citizen — being, as I should sup-
pose from his name, a foreigner by birth ; hence, perhaps,
he was jeered (as he said he was), when he claimed to be
an American citizen. Certain it is, as you and I could
almost swear, Major, he was not a native of our Southern
States, What the magistrate says as to the feelings of
our countrymen towards women, I believe to be true, as
a general rule, in all parts of the country. I know it to
be especially true in the slaveholding States.

"AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.

At Marlborough street, on Wednesday, James Gaball, who
described himself as an American citizen, was charged before
Mr. Bingham, with committing an unprovoked assault on Miss
Mary Gray. It appeared that a party of five friends and rela-
tives, amongst whom was Miss Mary Gray, of 103 Regent
street, were on their way home from the play, when defendant
came up to her and addressed some filthy language to her, and
then laid hold of her ; but her brother came up and interfered
for her protection. Defendant then struck her with his stick
25*

294

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ; OR,

a violent blow on her head, which hurt her much, and cut her
head, rendering her almost insensible. The defendant, in
answer to the charge, said he was first accosted by the party,
and on his saying he was an American, he was jeered by them.
Finding he was attacked by five persons, he defended himself
with his stick, and in doing so might have struck Miss Gray.
It was said he was not sober. Mr. Bingham would by no
means allow that excuse to have any weight, for it was a known
fact that quite a chivalrous feeling towards females was dis-
played by Americans. He should inflict the highest fine the
law allowed, £5, or two months' imprisonment. The fine was
paid." — Observer, December 21th, 1852.

I will resume the subject ; but must now conclude, with
the assurance that I am, dear Major,

Yr. friend and cousin,
P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTEE XXXI.

BILL PASSED BY PARLIAMENT FOR THE BETTER PROTECTION

OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN LORD GRANVILLE'S JEST UPON

THE SUBJECT — THE WHITE SLAVE IN ENGLAND ILLUSTRA-
TIONS op earl Granville's jest — price of insulting

AND ASSAULTING A LADY — A PUGILIST BRUTALLY BEATS
SEVERAL YOUNG WOMEN — SAVAGE ASSAULT UPON A WOMAN
ATTEMPT TO STRANGLE A WOMAN AN EDITOR DIS-
COURSES ON CRUELTY TO WOMEN.

London, March 27th, 1854.
Dear Major : — This brutal ill-treatment of women by
Englishmen had reached such a pitch of horrible infamy
as to force the matter upon the attention of the British
Parliament, and to call for some attempt by legislation to
curb the devilish tempers, and restrain the appetite for
blood, in which it has its origin. Accordingly, early in

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

295

last year, leave was asked to bring in a bill for this pur-
pose, some account of which you will find in the following
extract. You will also find in it a condensed statement,
by a member of Parliament, of some of the disgusting
barbarities which the bill is intended to restrain, and it
will save me the work of sending them to you.

u ASSAULTS ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

Mr. Fitzroy, in moving for leave to bring in a bill for the
better protection of women and children, said that no one
could read the public journals without being almost daily struck
with horror and amazement at the cruel and brutal injuries in-
flicted upon members of the weaker sex by persons whom one
blushed to call Englishmen [hear, hear]. Nothing but the
most ignominious punishment could adequately mark the man-
ner in which every right-minded individual would regard such
outrages ; but, unfortunately, the summary powers granted to
magistrates to punish such offences were confined to a penalty
of £5, or in default of payment, to two months' imprisonment
without hard labor, — a punishment which in such cases it
would be absurd to look upon as in any degree a sufficient
retribution [hear, hear]. He would quote a few cases in
proof of this remark. On the 8th of December, Thomas Ben-
nett was brought up at Bow street, charged with assaulting
his wife. He was living separately from her, and, meeting her
in the street, he called her an opprobrious name, knocked her
dewn, and beat her. The next day he went to her residence,
beat her, and, pulling out a knife, attempted to cut her throat.
In defending herself, her fingers were severely cut. The
magistrate, doubting whether the wife would appear at the
sessions, fined the defendant £o, or in default, committed him
for two months, but without hard labor [hear, hear]. In an-
other case the defendant's wife, fearing that her husband would
be enticed away to a public house, went out to him, and beg-
ged him not to go. Shortly afterwards he went in and beat
her in a most brutal manner, alleging that she had made him
appear little in the eyes of his companions. He, too, was
fined £5, or two months' imprisonment. In December, 1851,
a man was charged with beating his wife with a poker; and
in another case a husband was charged with having grossly
beaten and ill-used his wife, because he had missed a small
piece of cloth, of the value of three pence. On the 23d of
November, Susannah Preston appeared against a man with

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR;

whom she had been living as wife. He had beaten her with
the buckle end of a strap, until her head and face, her arras
and shoulders were one mass of bruises, and covered with
blood. A ring on her finger was actually beaten into the flesh
quite to the bone, and when she was taken to the hospital it
had to be cut out [sensation]. In all these cases the same fine
of £5 only was inflicted. He would only mention one other
case. About half-past twelve one night, the attention of the
police, in a street in Mile End-road, was attracted by cries of
murder. They went to the room whence they proceeded, and
found a woman sitting in a chair, and attended by several other
women. She had a large cut over her left eye, both her eyes
were blackened, and she had sustained such severe internal
injuries from her assaulter having jumped upon her, that she
was obliged to be taken to an hospital. Both parties were
sober. When she appeared at the police office, she represented
the assault as having been a very slight one, and the magis-
trates, thinking it would be very difficult to induce her to pro-
secute him at the sessions, committed the defendant for two
months. Such proceedings could only have the effect of bring-
ing the law into contempt, and of producing a prejudice against
the magistrates, as if they could have inflicted heavier penal-
ties [hear, hear]. Nothing could be less satisfactory than the
power of committing the parties to the sessions ; because, in
addition to the natural placability of the sex, women were
liable to be coaxed, or intimidated, and even forcibly withheld
from appearing in court ; besides which, as the marks of vio-
lence would be in a great measure obliterated, the courts might
be disposed to take a less serious view of such cases than if
the adjudication was prompt and on the spot [hear, hear].
Now, the first object of the bill would be to give the magis-
trates power to inflict a fine of £20, or six months' imprison-
ment— a no greater power than they already possessed to
avenge the wrongs of a tortured poodle or an ill-used cat
[hear, hear]. It was also proposed to take away the power
of removing indictments for this species of misdemeanor by
certiorari, except on affidavits stating that a fair trial could
not be had in the court whence the indictment was attempted
to be removed. He anticipated great opposition to this clause
from the members of a learned and powerful profession. A
similar proposed enactment had been introduced by the late
Attorney^ Jeneral into the Metropolitan Grand Jury Bill last
year, but by the pressure of the bar he was induced to with-
draw it. He (Mr. Fitzroy) felt bound to press the clause, not-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

297

withstanding the objections of the legal profession, because
now that there was a court of criminal appeal, lie thought
that the power of removal by certiorari was useless and mis-
chievous [hear, hear]. Another clause would place the for-
feited recognizances for not appearing to answer indictments
on exactly the same footing as those for appearing and refusing
to give evidence. Lastly, he should propose a clause to enable
the Secretary of State to order a prisoner to be brought up in
order to give evidence, and thus avoid the expense of a writ
of habeas corpus [hear, hear]. He hoped that all these im-
provements would meet with the approbation of the house,
and in conclusion he begged to move for leave to bring in the
bill [cheers]."— Observer, March Uth, 1853.

When this bill reached the House of Lords, Earl Gran-
ville moved the second reading, as follows :

" AGGRAVATED ASSAULT BILL.

The Earl of Granville moved the second reading, and cen-
sured the cruelty at present observable — a cruelty which it was
necessary to repress, although the old proverb said that "A
woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more they are beaten, the
better they be" [a laugh]. The punishment on conviction of
aggravated assaults by this bill will be six months' imprison-
ment or £20 fine."— Observer, May SOth, 1853.

I have learned to entertain sentiments of high respect
for Lord Granville, as well as for several other noblemen
in that venerable assembly, the House of Lords. But
that respect was not increased by this miserable jest of
the noble earl, and the evident relish with which the per-
siflage was received. It was worse than frivolous, it must
be confessed. It was too much in the jaunty, devil-may-
care vein of Lord Palmerston — this sorry sporting with
so serious a matter — this dance, as it were, upon the
brink of a volcano. It serves, however, as another proof
of the prevailing tone of sentiment in England, when
senators, in the highest ranks of her nobility, thus trifle
as they legislate upon this horrible subject.

The dull couplet, too, so enjoyed by these noble and
reverend legislators, is itself an exponent of the disgrace-
ful wife-bruising, woman-beating characteristic which we

208

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD \ OR,

have been considering ; and it is but a poetic expression,
I suppose, of a great national proclivity and passion.

There are Englishmen, however, who not only are wit-
nesses to the magnitude of this great social evil, but with
passionate eloquence denounce it, and (unlike the House
of Lords, but like to Mr. Fitzroy and others in the Com-
mons), when dealing with the subject, treat it in a man-

following, from the " Observer " of March 14th, 1853.

The white slave has been often heard of in this country, but
it is only now that the general public is coming to any know-
ledge of that erewhile apocryphal entity. Recent facts have
indubitably proved that the white slave in England is woman.
In no country in the world — among no people, however im-
bruted — in no state of society, however savage — are the weaker
sex treated with more inhumanity than in this, the highly-civi-
lized, Christian capital of that highly-civilized Christian aggre-
gation of nations, known as the United Kingdom.

If proof of this fact be needed, it is amply furnished in the
bill just laid before Parliament by Mr. Fitzroy for the protec-
tion of females against the frightful outrages to which they are
daily subjected — one tithe of which be it said in passing never
come to the ears of the general public. The increase in this
form of crime has been so steady and so progressive — it has
assumed of late such a violent and aggravated character — that
even the executive, slow as it ever is to lead, has been com-
pelled by the magnitude and enormity of the evil to take the
initiative for its suppression. It is perfectly possible that even
at the best times there was always a good deal of coarse bru-
tality about the boasted true British character, and it is patent
to all persons that savage domestic tyranny is no new pheno-
menon in English legal annals ; but it cannot be doubted that
cruel crimes upon women, chiefly perpetrated by their husbands
and paramours, are daily augmenting, and that these unhappy
creatures are every recurring year reduced to a lower and still
lower condition in the social scale, for the want of adequate
protection against such outrage. That this protection should
be proposed by a member of the Government is therefore
highly to his credit.

Lest, however, it should even for a moment be supposed that

Take, for example, the

THE WHITE SLAVE IN ENGLAND.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

299

i the object did not demand legislation, a few facts, in addition
to those which will be found enumerated in Mr. Fitzroy's speech
on introducing the bill in question to Parliament, are herewith
furnished to the reader. They are, one and all, derived from

! the police reports of the metropolis ; and they refer, one and
all, to the brief period of time included between the 1st of De-
cember, 1852, and the 16th of February of the present year.
The first is that of a fellow who beat his wife brutally, after
keeping her in a state of starvation. Then follow, in rapid

J succession, an Irishman, who stabs his wife with a table-knife
in the arm, having previously attempted the life of one of their
children ; a pugilist, at Hammersmith, who is convicted of a
most ruffianly assault on a publican's wife ; a ruffian, who kicks
his wife brutally on her body, until she is a mass of wounds ; a
blackguard, who beats his mother with a heavy hammer on
every part of her person ; a scoundrel, who makes indecent
proposals to a poor little girl of eleven years of age, and when
the innocent child refuses his solicitations, knocks her down
with a heavy stick, and cruelly beats her; a rascal who ham-
mers his wife on the head with a hammer, inflicts several
wounds, and fractures five ribs ; a 'Protestant,' who beats his
wife because she is a ' Catholic,' constantly tearing her clothes
and assaulting her, and inflicting blows on the face and head
until she is covered with blood ; a brute, who in broad day-
light commits a filthy act of indecency, accompanied by an
assault on a young lady, and upon being remonstrated with,
immediately knocks her down by a violent blow on the face ;
a savage, who assaults his wife, whom he nearly murders with
a thick stick, because his supper was not ready (on a previous
occasion his brutal violence had kept the woman in the hospital
for thirteen weeks) ; a knave, who assaults a poor prostitute,
without the slightest provocation, walking up to her, and
knocking her down with great violence, and regretting that
' he had not done for her,' as he ' had often threatened to do
a monster, who thrusts his tobacco-pipe into the eye of a poor
woman who came to fetch her husband home from the public-
house ; the keepers of a brothel in Wych street — a man, and
the woman with whom he cohabited, who brutally assault the
servant girl of the house, nearly beating her to death, and who
are fined £5 each — the fine being paid by the man, who produced
a bag of sovereigns ; and, finally, a fellow who throws a poor
girl, with whom he had cohabited, into the Regent's Canal."

It is in view of such facts, statements, and confessions

300

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

as these, that I say, when I find this people favorably
inclining towards the perpetrators of such disgraceful
enormities, or, at best, but turning indifferently from
them, and concentrating their sympathies on the slaves
three thousand miles away, that it can only be accounted
for by putting it upon the broad basis of humbug. Any
attempt to explain it otherwise involves me in inextricable
perplexity.

It is now almost a year since that law was passed.
During this time I have been watching its operation and
effects. As I expected, the disease has proved to be too
deeply seated to be reached by such a remedy. The same
blood-red flag, inscribed with the words " Brutal Treat-
ment of Women," or " Ill-treatment of Women," etc., is
still kept flying by the journals of the day, as you will
see by those I send you. Under these inscriptions is still
to be found an awful and apparently undiminished list of
these cruel and disgraceful crimes. The woman-bruisers
and butchers still continue to maim and to slay, and the
magistrate still goes on to sermonise about it. Occasion-
ally he regrets that the clause which allowed flogging had
been omitted from the bill, as in the following case, for
example :

" BRUTAL TREATMENT OF WOMEN.

At Guildhall, on Wednesday, James Barrett was charged
with the following savage assault: — Margaret Tubbs, whose
eye was frightfully blackened, and the side of her face contused
and swollen, said she lodged in the same house with the pri-
soner, and went to his room on Saturday night to call out her
husband, who was drinking with hira and his companions. The
prisoner, with a filthy expression, said, ' He shall not come ; I
have known your walking the streets more than once, and I'll
make your husband leave you altogether.' My husband then
tried to get me away, and pushed me out ; but the prisoner
immediately rushed towards me, and dragged me by the hair
of my head into the room. He then struck me on the eye,
knocked me down and kicked me with his heavy boots repeat-
edly about the face and body, while I was lying on the ground.
I screamed for assistance, and had it not been for Mrs. Finni-
gan, who rescued me from the prisoner's violence, I believe he
would have murdered me. I am so dreadfully bruised all over

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

301

my body, that I can neither stand nor sit without experiencing:
great pain in all my limbs.

Sir. 11. W. Carden : ' Who gave you that black eye ? '

Complainant : 1 That gentleman, sir (the prisoner/.

Sir K. W. Carden : ' Gentleman ! Don't call him even a man.
Call him a brute. Such conduct to a woman deserves no
better title.'

Two witnesses corroborated the complainant.

Prisoner: 'It's all false. I never struck her. It was her
husband that gave her the black eye.'

The complainant : ' He did not ; he only pushed me out of
the room.'

The prisoner called his father and mother, but they rather
confirmed the complainant's story.

John Carr was then called for defendant, but his evidence
was so palpably false, that he was ordered to quit the court.

The jailor said that defendant was a tailor, who for the
last twelve years had been frequently in prison for assaults,
and he had been in the Compter for six weeks for beating his
wife.

Sir R. W. Carden regretted that the clause in the act allow-
ing such persons to be flogged had not been passed by the
House of Commons. Had he the power, he (Sir William Car-
den) would have ordered him to be tied to the cart's tail and
flogged through the town, and he would have placed the
scourge in the hands of his victim.

He sentenced him to six months' imprisonment and hard
labor." — Observer, December l$th, 1853.

I send you the following, as another beautiful specimen
from the same paper, of what this attempt at reformation
has effected :

"At Bow street, on Wednesday, Henry Bennet, a carpenter,
was charged with assaulting his wife. The complainant, whose
face was sadly disfigured, said she had not lived with the pri-
soner since his last previous assault, but now contrived to
maintain herself and her children without his aid. On Wed-
nesday moi'ning she accidentally met him in Drury lane. Her
face was tied up at the time, and he asked her what was the
matter ? She said she had a face-ache, and was passing on to
avoid him, when he exclaimed, ' 1 11 make your cheeks ache a
little more,' and he gave her a blow in the face which knocked
her down, and raising her head from the ground, he struck her
26

302 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

a succession of blows on the head with his clenched fist. She
crawled into a shop, where she was protected from further
violence.

Mr. Billington, of Wilson street, Drury lane, deposed to the
incredible brutality of the assault, and having sheltered the
woman in his shop.

The prisoner : It was all her own fault.

Mr. Henry said this was the seventh time within a short space
of time that the prisoner had been charged with assaulting his
wife, and, even now that she had separated herself from him,
she was not safe from his inhuman treatment. He committed
him to prison with hard labor for six months, and at the expi-
ration of that time to find sureties to keep the peace for six
months. The prisoner, on leaving the dock, said, with a ma-
lignant leer at his wife, he would settle the matter yet by mur-
dering her when he got out of prison."

What a charming picture is presented by the above cases
in illustration of the poetic proverb so felicitously quoted by
Lord Granville, and to the delectation of their lordships !
How vastly delighted they must be at such striking ap-
plications of their poetry, fun, and sentiment !

I add a few more such illustrations, which at the same
time serve to disclose what this bill was worth in afford-
ing protection to helpless women from the brutality of
these sanguinary Englishmen.

"ILL-TREATMENT OF WOMEN — PRICE OF INSULTING AND
ASSAULTING A LADY.

At Guildhall, on Tuesday, James Tracy, commercial tra-
veller to Mr. Robert Wild, of Houndsditch, was charged as
follows : — Mrs. Wallis said she had been spending the previous
evening with some friends, and was returning home with her
daughter at a late hour. At the end of a court on Ludgate-
hill she directed her daughter to fasten her boot lace ; whilst
so engaged, the defendant came and pulled up witness' dress.
She instantly pushed him from her, and told him to go away.
He then struck her violently in the face, and she gave him in
custody. The defendant was sober, but the person with him
was very drunk. Witness' eye was bloodshot, and she was
very ill during the night. On leaving the witness-box, com-
plainant fainted, and was carried out of court. The defendant
said he never touched the lady's dress. He was very drunk,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 303

and when she slapped his face he certainly did strike, but he
had offered to apologize. The complainant said that at the
station she offered to accept an apology, but the defendant
refused to make one.

Sir J. Mosgrove said it was a very serious case. It was not
because ladies are sometimes compelled to go home alone at a
late hour that they should be assaulted or interfered with. An
apology should be made to the lady, and the defendant must
pay 40s. fine, or suffer one month's imprisonment. The fine
was paid.

" COWARDLY ASSAULT.

At Worship street, on Wednesday, John Anderson, an artist,
of Church road, De Beauvoir square, was charged as follows :
Miss Martha Baker, daughter of a tradesman at Hoxton, who
was dressed in deep mourning, and had her face severely
bruised, said that on the previous evening she and her sister
proceeded by omnibus from the house of some relative in Cam-
den Town, to Islington, and then by another omnibus to the •
bridge in the City road, not liking to take a cab at that hour,
past eleven o'clock. They were walking the remainder of the
distance, but when half way down Myrtle street, the defendant
came up after them, and invited them to take his arm. They
made no answer, but he endeavored to force his conversation
on them, and at length forcibly thrust himself in between them.
Witness said that if he persisted she would give him in charge
to a constable, and she and her sister ran to the other side of
the road, but just as she reached the foot pavement, he knocked
her down with a blow, and she fell, by which her face was in-
jured, as it now appeared. On getting up, she claimed the
protection of a gentleman who passed. She never saw the
prisoner before. Miss Lavinia Baker, complainant's sister,
corroborated the above. Mr. George Tanner said that when
passing through the street, he heard loud screams, and, on
turning round, he saw the complainant lying partly on the
road and partly on the footpath. The defendant was walking
off quickly, and on witness asking what was the matter, he
carelessly replied, 1 Oh ! they are drunk,' and passed on. The
complainant, however, came up, and claimed witness' protec-
tion, and a policeman coming also, he gave the prisoner in
charge. He was somewhat intoxicated, but knew well what
he was about, and at the station he said he would give any
compensation that would be accepted. The prisoner, in an
effeminate, mincing tone, expressed his regret, and said the

304

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

the only impression he had of the matter was, that he had been
first struck by one of the ladies, and he gave a blow in reta-
liation.

This statement was confuted, and Mr. D'Eyncourt sentenced
him to £5 fine, or two months' imprisonment. The money not
being forthcoming, he was locked up."

" WORSHIP STREET.

A powerful fellow named Daniel White, who was recognized
as a notorious pugilist, was charged with having savagely
assaulted and ill-used several respectable women in the White-
chapel-road. It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner
had brutally attacked the complainants, and had struck them
violently, and abused them in the most disgusting language.
No reason could be assigned for his conduct. The only excuse
the prisoner had to make was that he was drunk. He was
sentenced to four months' imprisonment in the House of Cor-
rection, and required to find bail for his good behavior for the
further term of six months." — Observer, January 2d, 1854.

The two cases following afford similar illustrations of

the workings of this bill in other parts of the kingdom :

"SAVAGE ASSAULT.

John Kidd, a laborer, was committed for trial at the assizes,
charged with a most savage assault on Catherine Sherry, an
unfortunate woman with whom he cohabited. The brute, meet-
ing her in Bannastre street, knocked her down, kicked her
repeatedly on the head as she lay on the ground, then went to
a piece of waste ground for a brick, and, returning, struck her
repeatedly with it on the head. How she escaped death under
his hands seems a marvel.

At Leicester, James Bull, aged 19, a farm servant, was in-
dicted for having attempted to strangle Ann Clarke, the house-
keeper in the same service, a comely-looking personage, about
forty years of age. The prisoner had pressed her repeatedly
to marry him, and, because she refused, went to her bedside
and got a rope round her neck. He repeated the attempt twice
the same night ; and, in the intervals between courtship and
attempted murder, the parties were engaged saying prayers
and singing hymns. He was convicted and sentenced to fifteen
years' transportation."— Liverpool Journal, March 2bth% 1854.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 305

It seems to be generally admitted that this bill has
proven to be a failure, and that something else is needed
as a remedy for this terrible evil, as in the following
extract :

"CRUELTY TO WOMEN.

There can be no question that the new law, making cruelty
to women, in the shape of aggravated assault, a misdemeanor,
has practically issued in failure. The records of the police
courts of the metropolis present an increasing number of cases
of this degrading offence, which not even the horrors of the
treadmill, for six months, have been found sufficient to modify,
still less to repress. Indeed, it may be doubted whether, any-
where on the face of the globe — in the lowest kraals or the
most savage caT — the same disgraceful and inhuman brutality
is committed on woman, which is of daily and hourly occur-
rence in this, the first city of the world, where monsters, who
miscall themselves men, smash their wives with pokers, kick
them till they are senseless, blacken their eyes, break their ribs,
and vent all the bestial furies of drunkenness in the shape of
blows, curses, and unmanly and indecent violence.

Nor is this brutality confined to the class of husbands or the
class of ' fancy men,' as they are designated, who may consider
themselves in the light of ' chartered wantons,' and act accord-
ingly ; neither does it seem necessary that the victim of man's
brutality should be his chattel, and the sharer of his bed and
board. Maddened with beer and lust, another class of savages
rage through the streets at nights and attack all manner of
women they meet : modest or wanton, all are looked on as
their proper prey. If a woman resists an insulting overture,
she is smote in the face, disfigured in a moment, and then is
knocked down and trampled on, as a reward for her pudicity ;
nay even the poor outcasts of the streets are regarded as fair
game for these murderous scoundrels. Neither honor nor dis-
honor protects a female ; wife or prostitute, all are the prey
of the strongest arm, the heaviest foot, the bloodiest license
of intoxication.

The worst feature in the case, however, is the fact that among
the poorer classes, this brutality has come to be regarded as a
matter of course, even by those who do not themselves practise
it ; and how bad soever may be the case, as far as bystanders
of these classes concern themselves in the matter, the perpe-
trator enjoys perfect impunity. Men ill-use their wives and
mistresses as svstematicallv and regularlv, and in as cold blood,
26* u

306

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD : OR,

as they take their meals, so that savage assault has got to be
an element in their natural life. It has become to be part of
the system of their being — it is a recognized economy in their
existence ; and 'the neighbors1 never think of interfering. Hinc
illce lachrymce." — Observer, September 12th, 1853.

I am afraid that I have exhausted your patience with
this long letter, Major, and must hasten to subscribe
myself,

Respectfully,

Y'r ob't serv't and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTER XXXII.

CRUEL TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN THIS COUNTRY CHARGE

OF ADMINISTERING GIN TO A CHILD OF SEVEN YEARS

MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF A BOY NEAR PLYMOUTH A WO-
MAN THROWS HER SON, AGED SIX YEARS, FROM A THIRD

FLOOR WINDOW BUCK'S HISTORY OF THIS TRANSACTION

HE IS SOLICITED TO LEAVE HIS MASTER REFUSES, AND

SETS FORTH SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF SLAVERY IN
GEORGIA OVER POVERTY IN ENGLAND.

London, March 31st, 1854.

Dear Major : — If I added nothing to what I have
already furnished, I think you would be satisfied that I
have fully proven all that I have asserted in relation to
the sanguinary character of the British people. But if I
paused here, you would form but an imperfect idea of
that blood-lust, as I have termed it, awful as may be the
proportions of those developments in and by which it now
appears to you. To know it in all its horrible aspects,
you must be furnished with proofs of the cruelty with
which children are treated by the men and women of this
country.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

307

Such cruelty is altogether unexampled in our country,
as the causes which there favor and protect our women, also
protect our children — and I might add, indeed, all inferior
dependents, to a great extent. Such instances, then, as
I shall bring to your attention, from their novel and ex-
traordinary character to you, cannot fail to interest ; and
when you have read them, you will fully appreciate the
truth of what my servant said on this subject, in his pe-
culiar way, to the lady whom he was addressing on the
evening of the demonstration in favor of Mrs. Stowe,
made by the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, at
Exeter Hall, 'and mentioned in my .letter of June 1st,
1853.

I begin with the following :

" CHARGE OF ADMINISTERING GIN TO A CHILD, SEVEN
YEARS OLD.

At Marvlebone office, on Thursday, Hannah Maria Ewens,
a widow, about 50 years of age, was brought up in custody,
and placed at the bar before Mr. Broughton, charged under
the following extraordinary circumstances ; and it will be seen
from the subjoined evidence that the conduct of a police-ser-
geant in reference to the affair was of a most inexplicable and
unsatisfactory nature. Police-constable Ramsey, 57 D, said :
I live with my family on the first floor of No. 13, Upper Dor-
chester-place, and the prisoner lives on the second floor. After
going off night duty I returned home and went to bed at seven
this morning, and at eight o'clock I heard what I thought to
be a loud knocking over head, which proceeded from the
prisoner's room. I sent my little girl Elizabeth, who is not
yet seven years of age, up stairs, to say that I could get no
sleep for the noise, and in the course of a few minutes I heard
something rolling on the floor. I shortly afterwards sent up
my son to fetch down his sister, and he brought her in his
arms to me, and laid her down in the room. She was quite
insensible, and was incapable of moving either hand or foot.
She was perfectly well when I sent her up. I put her to bed,
and I smelt that she had had gin. After the lapse of an hour,
finding that she did not get better. I got up and dressed my-
self, and took her to Dr. Guy, in Dorset place, by whose advice
I conveyed her instantly in a cab to the AVestern General Dis-
pensary, Xew road. We arrived there at half-past ten. The

308

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD '} OR,

stomach-pump was applied, and the child was put into a hot
bath. I left her at the dispensary, and then repaired to the
station-house in Molyneux street, where I reported to Sergeant
Pearce, the acting inspector on duty, what had occurred ; and
the remark he made was, ' It's not a proper charge ; you can't
take her into custody, for no person saw her give the child the
gin.' The child was then in a most dangerous state, .which I
mentioned to the inspector. John Ramsay, complainant's son,
proved that he found the child as described by the father.
Prisoner was in bed, and a bottle wras standing by. Mr. Bux-
ton, resident surgeon to the General Dispensary, sa'.d : On the
previous day the child of prosecutor was brought there insen- .
sible. The stomach-pump was applied, and nearly a quart of
lightish fluid drawn olf. The child continued extremely ill all
the afternoon, and he was obliged to open the jugular vein.
He still regarded the child's situatiou as dangerous. But for
the application of the stomach-pump death must have over-
taken the child. Osborne, 280 D, said prisoner had admitted
to him that she had given the child something which would
make it all over with her. He took her to the station house,
as she was drunk and incapable of taking care of herself, bnt
Sergeant Pearce would not take the charge. Mr. Broughton
remanded the prisoner till Thursday next. The poor child has
passed from this mortal world, having died early on Friday
morning." — Observer, February 24lh, 1851.

The next extract refers to the murder of a boy near
Plymouth, and is as follows :

" MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF A BOY NEAR PLYMOUTH.

Great excitement has prevailed in the village of Brixton,
near Plymouth, owing to a rumor that a boy, named John
Bunker, who was found hanging on a tree in an orchard, had
been murdered by the son of his master, Mr. Henry Rowe, a
respectable farmer. W. Rowe, the accused, was arrested on
Saturday week ; and Mr. Bone, the coroner, opened an inquest
on that day, which was resinned on Monday. The following
is the substance of the evidence given : —

John Layers, a lad in Mr. II. Howe's employ, said that on
Friday morning at a quarter to six o'clock, he saw the deceased
leave the court-yard of the farm house, with a cart drawn by
two horses. He was in a great hurry, and appeared to be

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

309

well, and in good spirits. lie had a whip, but no rope in his
hand. About noon the same day Mr. Henry Rowe left his
work in one of his fields, having heard that something had
happened to the deceased.

Thomas Fronde, a policeman, said that he had been informed
that there was a charge of a horrible crime against W. Rowe ;
and on Saturday receiving information that he was suspected
of having murdered John Bunker, he arrested him on both
charges. The prisoner denied all knowledge of the acts
charged, and said that the deceased had fetched from the house
the rope which had been found round his neck. There were
marks of coagulated blood on the back of the deceased's right
and left hand, a scratch on the temple, and blood coming from
the nose and mouth ; that from the mouth fresher than the
rest. In the orchard where deceased was found, he saw foot-
marks corresponding with the prisoner's boots. The prisoner's
handkerchief and vest had blood marks, some of them fresh,
and five bullets were in his waistcoat pocket. He said he used
bullets to kill rabbits.

The clothes and the blood marks were exhibited to the jury.

Mr. W. Pattison Mould, surgeon, knew Rowe's family many
years. At about ten, P. M., on Friday week, the prisoner's
brother, John, called witness to see deceased's body. It at
first seemed as if death had been from suffocation. On examin-
ing the body, he saw on the back of the knuckle of the right
hand middle finger a streak of dry blood an inch long, and
three or four spots of blood on the back of the left wrist, such
as might have been produced by chaps in the hand. The boy
had been to 'lime,' and the backs of his hands were in a bad
state ; the right hand very dirty, the left clean. There was
very little mud on the boots. A mark, as of a blow, was on
the left temple. There was a blood mark under the division
of the nostril on the upper lip, and a streak of blood on the
mouth, extending an inch and a half down the cheek. The
knees of the trousers were soiled with mud. On minutely ex-
amining the body, no further external violence was perceptible,
excepting a slight blood mark under the left ear, proceeding
from a small chap, and the lobe of the ear was bruised. Xo
blood had effused from the ears, and on wiping the blood from
the upper lip no wounds were visible. The blood had evidently
escaped from the nose and mouth, and dried on the skin. The
cheeks were slightly swollen. The eyes were not suffused wiih
blood.

Anne Couch, Mr. H. Rowe's servant, said the deceased ap-

310

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

peared pale and poorly, and wished, on that morning, to go
Miming' (i. e., to fetch lime) from the kiln.

W. Good said that on Friday week, whilst in a field half a
mile from the orchard, he heard a loud ' screech' from the wood
adjoining the orchard. It was as if a man were strangling a
youngster with his hands. This was shortly after nine o'clock.

Richard Scoble, when in the field on Friday week, heard a
cry in the direction of the wood. His brother was on horse-
back, and they proceeded towards the wood, but saw nothing.

James Ellis spoke to deceased respecting the other horrible
crime charged against the prisoner, and deceased said that the
charge was true, and that the prisoner had offered him money
not to say what he knew concerning it.

After the examination of some other witnesses, the jury con-
sulted for two hours, and returned a verdict that ' Deceased
died of strangulation, and that he was wilfully murdered by
some person or persons unknown.'

The prisoner, who remains in custody, was to be examined
by the magistrates." — Observer, March 11th, 1851.

A month or so after my arrival in London, my servant
obtained permission one day to go out and see the " curos-
ities," as he expressed it. Guided by a lad who ran on
errands for the house where we were staying, he wan-
dered in the direction of St. Paul's, and into the heart of
the city. During their stroll they met with an adventure,
which you must have as Buck gave it to me.

"We was gwine 'long, Marster," said he, "lookin at
the curus sights, an the things in the shops, an the boy
he said, says he, ' Thar's the Post Hoffice, Mr. Buck,' says
he, 'whar people gits letters from,' says he. Why, Mars-
ter, that Post Office in Augusty can't hold a candle to
them bildins, sir. You can almost put hit into one o'
them big rooms.

'Well,' says I, 'Tom,' says I, 'to my notion, hit must
cost a power o' money,' says I, ' to carry the mail from
one part o' that big house to 'nuther. I spose they must
keep a railroad in thar to do it with,' says I.

The boy laffed at me, sir, he did, becase he thought I
< I id n't know no better — all time I was divartin myself
with him, sir.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

311

'Come 'long, now, Mr. Buck/ says lie, 1 an I'll show

you the Chartrus,' says he.

So, arter we had seen the Chartrus "

" The Charter-house, I suppose you mean, Buck,"

said I.

" Well, I spose that was what the boy meaned, Mars-
ter ; for you know he can't talk very plain, sir, no how.
He perposed then, sir, that we should go to the — the —
what-do-you-call-um ? — the big-gun ground, sir."

" The Artillery Ground," said I. ■

"Adzackly so, Marster. 'An to Bunhill Fields,' says
he, 1 whar thar was a buryin-ground/ says he, 1 an hit
wasn't far off,' says he.

I thought it mighty curus, Marster, how thar should
be any fields right thar in London, an a buryin-ground,
too ; for you know, sir, that in Georgy we allers has 'um
on the outskearts of the town. Howbeever, thinks I, I'll
go an see them fields, an maybe 'mong them all I'll find a
patch of new ground, an we'll git a showin for Marster's
plough yit, 'fore the Great Exerbishun's over." [Here the
rogue turned his head away, but I plainly saw that he
was grinning.] " Well, Marster, as we was passin along,
an takin a nigh cut as the boy said, to them fields, sir,
we heerd a scream from the up-stars winders of a house,
but we couldn't see whar it was, adzackly, sir. Presently
we seed people runnin to the place, an we follered, an
then we seed a poor little boy lyin on the ground bleedin.
There was a mighty jabberin an gwine on over him, an I
couldn't 'zackly larn how hit was ; but, as well as I could
tell, he was flung out of a winder, an by his own mother,
too, everybody said, sir. Arter a while, I sees a woman
'mong the crowd that they said was his mother, an done
it. She was sorter drunk, an cavorted round mightily,
tell a pleeceman come an tuk her off to jail, an had the
child tuk away to a doctor.

' Marster,' says I, to a gen'l'man that was tellin the
crowd about it, \ hit aint true, now, that the child's mo-
ther flung him out the winder, sir. Hit must a been
somebody else, musn't it, sir ?' says I.

' Xo, blackamoor,' says he, 'hit mustn't. Hit was her,
an nobody else,' says he.

312

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

' What could have made her gone an done it ?' says L

' Grin,' says he ; ' gin an the devil.'

'"Well raaly!' says I, ' I think the devil must a had
somethin to do with it ; for all the gin in the world, and
knock-kneed whiskey to boot,' says I, jest so, ' couldn't
make a mother kill her own child, 'thout the help o' the
devil — leastwise, that's the way with the mothers whar I
comes from, Marster,' says I.

' Whar do you come from ?' says he.

'Georgy,' says I.

'What sort o' Georgy?' says he; 'not whar they
breeds gals for Turkey ?' says he.

1 Come, Marster,' says I, ' for I wasn't in a humor for
funnin with the genTman, ' come, Marster, you're arter
pokin fun at this nigger. They don't breed no gals in my
country for turkeys, you know very well,' says I; 'but I
must say, Marster,' says I, ' ef they did, an cooked one
on urn every day for dinner,' says I, jest so, 'thar would
be more sense in hit than the way the people has here,
of killin thar children for nuthin, an puttin 'um to no
use at all,' says I.

The genTman seemed to think what I said was power-
ful funny, Marster, for he laffed mightily.

' You goose,' says he, 'who talked about turkeys? I
asked you ef you was from Georgy in Asia,' says he,
' whar gals are bred and trained as wives for the Turks,'
says he.

' No sir-ree !' says I. ' Ef thar's any sich Georgy as
that, Marster, I'm not from thar. I'm from Georgy in
x\meriky, sir,' says I, 'whar we has as pretty gals, too,'
says I, ' as any in the world, sir,' says I. ' But we takes
mighty good care, Marster, that they corniffles in the
breasts of our own men the dextority of their charms,'
says I, jest so.

You see, Marster, I sorter talked what you call hyfer-
lutin at the genTman, becase I wanted him to see that
this nii^er knowed a thine or two hisself when he thunk

DO O

about it, and becase I was determed to stand up for my
country when it was insaulted.

' Oh, that's hit, is it?' says the genTman. 'An so you
are from Georgy in Ameriky,' says he, ' whar they have
slaves, don't they ?'

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 313

' Yes, Marster/ says L

' Why, ef we bleeve half what we heer,' says he, ' ef
the slaveholders thar don't fling thar children out o' win-
ders, they makes nothin o' whippin thar slaves to deth,
any time. How 'bout that ?' says he. 'Aint that so ?'

' Nairy time,' Marster,' says I. ' Leastwise I hardly
ever heerd o' sich a thing,' says I. 'An hit don't stand to
reason, Marster/ says I. 1 People ginerly don't part
with thar money so easy/ says I. ' Kiggers is mighty
high,' says I; ' an ef a man kills his nigger, he flings
his money away. Your people,' says I, 1 can 'ford to fling
thar children out o' winder,' says I, 'becase they aint worth
much, ef anything ; but they's mighty clar of doin thar
money so,' says I, jest so. ' Fact is, Marster, to my no-
tion, we aint so servigrous, no how, no way you can fix
it/ says I, jest so, ' as you are in this country.'

1 Were you a slave, old boy, whar you come from ?' says
he.

' Yes, Marster,' says I.

'An yit you call it your country, as ef you was free,'
says he. ' How come it any country of yourn,' says he,
1 ef you was a slave ?'

' Marster,' says I, ' that's whar I was born an raised,
that's whar my wife an chil'n is,' says I ; 'an we's all
mighty happy thar, an I think I has a right to call it my
country,' says I. 'Besides that/ says I, 'my grandaddy
he fout for the country in the Independence War ; an,
for the matter o' that, I sorter done somethin o' that kind
myself — leastwise, my Marster he went out agin the Senii-
noles, an fit through the Fluridas, an I went 'long with
him as his sarvant. It's true, we didn't git much chance
to extinguish ourselves, an killed more alligators than In-
juns ; but we done the best we could, an you know,
Marster, nobody could do no more,' says I, jest so.

' How did you git here ?' says he.

' I come with my Marster, sir ; who I left this mornin
at his lodgins in the Strand,' says I.

'An you're gwihe back to him ?' says he.
' Sartain,' says I, ' ef I live.'

' You fool,' says he; 'what! go back to slavery? You
27

314

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD I OR,

shouldn't think of it. Come 'long with me, an I'll git you
employment.'

' What will you git me ?' says I.

' Let me see — I will git you,' says he, ' I will git you
ten pence a day,' says he ; 'an that's big wages for a hod-
man, for carryin brick,' says he ; ' but bein you're a
slave,' says he, 'an wish to git away from your Marster,
I'll do that for you,' says he.

' Marster,' says I, ' ef hit was ten shillins, hit wouldn't
begin to pay. I should be givin up a sartainty for a on-
sartainty,' says I, jest so. ' Why, hit's as much as the
workin people kin do here, Marster, to keep soul an body
together — an a great many on urn don't do it ; for I meets
urn everywhar 'bout, sufferin for somethin to eat,' says I.
' Us slaves in Georgy, Marster, has got a plenty, an to
spar. An then our marsters has to tote all our cares an
troubles, an the troubles o' our families,' says I; 'they
aint on our backs. Our marsters is bound to do it ; an
ef we git's sick, we's nursed, Marster, at our marster 's
expense. We's his money, an he wants to turn us over
soon as possible,' says I, jest so. 'For same reason, sir,
our marsters couldn't 'ford to let thar sarvants drown
thar cares, ef they ever has any, — which ef they has is
onbeknowns to me, — in gin, or auy sich pisin, as your
poor people do. An so we is decent, an sober, an God-
fearing people, Marster,' says I. 'When we gits old,'
says I, 'an can't do anything for ourselves,' says I, 'he's
obleeged to take care of an support us ; an he'll love to
do it, becase marsters ginerly, in my country, gits to
likin thar sarvants,' says I, jest so.* 'An that aint all,

* See Appendix, D.

Whilst these pages have been passing through the press, events have
occurred at Harper's Ferry, which have afforded a striking illustration
of much that has been said by Dr. Jones and his servant in these letters,
AS to the relations of master and slave in the Southern States.

As has been remarked by Governor Wise, when speaking of this
II irper'fl Ferry affair, it seems impossible for Northern men to understand
tiie patriarchal character of the relation between master and slave in our
c um try — that is to say, the nature of the strong family tie which, as a
general rule, exists between them. It is to be hoped that this affair has
\ by this time taught them something on this subject. That it has at least
satisfied the viper of abolitionism, that in attempting to excite our con-
tented and comfortable slaves into rebellion agaiust their masters, it bites
Against a file.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

315

Marster,' says I : ' to tell you the truth, cf I was sure of
gittin plenty to eat here in this country, an bein tuk care
of while I lived, an ef I didn't like my marster too well
to desart him,' says I, ' I wouldn't live in a country whar

The author of these letters passed through a portion of Virginia and
Maryland, attended by a colored servant, about the time of the occurrence
to which he has just referred, and had thus some opportunity of forming
an opinion as to the amount of sympathy with the movement on the part
of slaves, and of the impression made upon them by it. He was thus
enabled to ascertain (what is everywhere now well known) that even in
the border States it met with no encouragement from slaves, and was,
indeed, treated by them with contempt. This fact is so well understood
at the South, and our people are so conscious that there is no materiel of
disaffection among our slaves, out of which insubordination or insurrection
can arise, that, notwithstanding all the excitement which has been created
by this affair, and the increased vigilance which has been exercised in
looking after strange visitors among us, little or no change has been made
in our police regulations with reference to our slaves, and the value of the^e
slaves, as property, has been in no wise affected. There can be no better
tests than these of security and confidence among our people, on this
subject.

When the circumstances to which I have referred first occurred, the
people of the South were disposed to regard them as overt acts of the
treason which fanatical Abolitionists of the North had been so long talk-
ing and writing; and we repeated to ourselves the trite, but classic senti-
ment, that "Whom God wills to destroy, he first makes mad" — almost
rejoicing in the confident expectation, that this outrage, which was but
the practical working out of Abolition doctrines, was so dangerously and
shockingly evil, that the friends of our Constitution and of the Union in
the Northern States would now be enabled so to speak and act, as effec-
tually to overwhelm all who were concerned in, or responsible for the
treason, with infamy and disgrace. In this, great and general disappoint-
ment has been experienced and expressed. And now, in the opinion of
moderate and reflecting men of all parties in the South, of men who are
by no means mixed up with the manoeuvres of politicians, there has been
so much of sympathy with the perpetrators of this mad treason mani-
fested at the North, without effective rebuke or denunciation from those
whom we have been accustomed to regard as the conservative members
of society there, as greatly to lessen our confidence in these persons, and
very much to loosen the hold of our affections upon the Union of these
States. I see very plainly what the result will be unless the remedy be
applied without delay. That remedy must be taken in hand by the people
(not the politicians) of the Northern States. If these people desire a con-
tinuance of the Union with us, they must bring to bear upon the crisis a
power before which politicians bow down and grovel, and fanatics stand
stricken with awe — the power of well-defined public opinion. Unless that
opinion be speedily manifested in some energetic and decisive form, (and
I know of none so effectual as the ballot.) another republic, in a few
years, will be added to the roll of nations upon the North American con-
tinent. I shrink from the contemplation of its baptism.

316

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

the women flings thar children out o' the winders/ says
I, jest so. I think, 'bout this time, the genTman didn't
like the way the argument was a gwine, Marster, an so
drapped it, and put out."

On the next day, I attended the police court at the
Guildhall, where I was informed that the woman who had
maltreated her child in the manner stated by Buck would
be examined. Below you have an account of that exami-
nation :

"tolice intelligence. — Saturday, August 23.

Guildhall. — Margaret Raymond, aged thirty, was charged
before Alderman Wilson, with throwing her son, aged six, from
the third-floor window of a house in Sun court, Golden lane.
Policeman, 140 D, said he received information on the previous
evening that a child had been thrown out of a window, and
proceeded to No. 9, Golden lane. The prisoner was coming
out, and she exclaimed, ' I have done it now !' The child was
sent to the hospital, and the prisoner taken into custody. The
child afterwards said that his mother had thrown him out of
the window because he would not let her take off his boots.
The prisoner: 'I was very drunk, your worship.' Alderman
Wilson : ' Do you think that to be a justification of your con-
duct ?' The police officer : 1 She knew very well what she was
doing. The child fell on his head on the shed below the
window, and rolled thence to the ground.' The surgeon's cer-
tificate was produced. It stated that the child's head was
much injured, but the skull was not fractured. Mary Ann
Regan, an intelligent girl, aged eleven, who* said she never
read the Bible, but always told the truth, deposed that she
lived in the house (No. 9), and was looking through the second-
floor window. She saw the prisoner holding the child out of
the upper window ; he exclaimed, 1 Oh, mother, don't chuck
me out !' The mother then took him by the heels and dropped
liim out of the window. At the same time a little girl in the
mother's room exclaimed, ' Oh, mother, don't throw him out I1
The prisoner was committed for trial. She subsequently ad-
mitted that she had wanted the boy's boots in order to sell
tuttu for gin." — Observer, August 25th, 1851.

T*he scene described in* this . report has reminded me
somewhat of one of Hogarth's famous pictures, known as

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

317

" Gin Lane/* and suggestive of manners and morals in
this metropolis more than a century ago. The principal
figure in that horrible picture is a loathsome woman, so
drunk that she lets her child fall from her arms into a
cellar, situated in the area, above which she is seated.
She is surpassed by her modern successor in the gin lanes,
however ; for the latter does not wait until her child falls
by accident from her arms, but throws it from the win-
dow, that she may exchange its boots for gin. A catas-
trophe so shocking was not imagined by Hogarth. I sup-
pose he would have rejected it, as too unnatural for
probability — another illustration of the hackneyed phrase
that " truth is strange — stranger than fiction."

I bring this letter to a close by assuring you that I
remain, dear Major,

Respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. Jones,

Pineville, Gra., U. S. of America.

LETTEE XXXIII.

TWO CHILDREN MURDERED BY THEIR FATHER AT CAMBER-
WELL — MURDER OF A CHILD BY ITS MOTHER, AND DEATH
OF THE LATTER — HORRIBLE MURDER OF TWO CHILDREN BY

THEIR MOTHER AT LOUGHREA MURDER OF AN INFANT

BY ITS STEP-FATHER ILL-TREATMENT OF A CHILD BY ITS

FATHER (A CLERGYMAN) AND HIS SISTER, RESULTING IN ITS
DEATH — MURDER OF AN INFANT IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

OF THE BAGNIGGE-WELLSROAD BUCK DISCOURSES ON THAT

TEXT.

London, April 4th, 1854.

Dear Major : — I hasten to furnish you with other
matter which I have in hand relating to the subject which
I was considering when I last wrote to you.

I send you, first, the account of the murder of two
children, and the injury of another, by a father, perpe-
27*

318

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

trated in this city during the fall of 1851. It presents a
curious chapter in the bloodthirsty history of cruelty to
children on the part of Englishmen.

" TWO CHILDREN MURDERED BY THEIR FATHER AT CAMBER-
WELL. — SUICIDE OF THE MURDERER.

The Discovery. — On Tuesday morning, about eight o'clock,
one of the most horrible murders that has been committed for
some years was discovered in the Wyndham road, Camberwell*
which threw the whole of the neighborhood into a fearful state
of excitement, when it became known that a respectable trades-
man in that vicinity had cut the throats of his three young:
children, and destroyed himself. The name of the father is
Anthony Fawcett, aged forty-three, and on Monday he took
possession of a grocer's shop at the corner of Queen's place,
Wyndham road, lately occupied by Mr. Stockham. He brought
with him his wife and three children — Emily Fawcett, six years
and a half old, deceased ; Frederick, one year and seven months,
deceased ; and Mary Ann, who is badly wounded. He seemed
to have been greatly disappointed with his purchase, and
grumbled very much to his wife respecting it ; but nothing in
his appearance indicated any symptoms of insanity. A little
after seven o'clock the family got up, and his wife dressed the
two elder children and took them down stairs to breakfast,
leaving the baby in bed up stairs. While the children and
father were partaking of their morning meal in the back par-
lor at eight o'clock, the wife ran out to convey two letters to
the Post Office, which is only two or three hundred yards dis-
tant, and during her absence the man cut the throats of all his
children. On her return she was horror-stricken at finding her
two elder children with their throats cut; and on proceeding
farther she perceived her husband catting his own throat in the
back kitchen. She immediately ran out and alarmed the neigh-
bors, when police constable 115 P, Edward Sharvill, who was
on duty near the spot, entered the house, and instantly pro-
ceeded to the back kitchen, where he found the murderer lying
under the sink, quite insensible, with blood gushing from his
neck. He took him up, and found a large table knife in his
grasp, which he had cut his throat with, and at the time he
was not dead. A doctor was directly sent for, and Mr. King,
surgeon, of Camberwell, attended, but Fawcett's death took
place a few minutes after. He had cut his throat from ear to
ear. On the constable entering the back parlor, he discovered

LILLY BUCK'S VJSIT TO ENGLAND.

319

Emily, aged six years and a half, lying dead, with her throat
dreadfully cat, under the window, and Mary Ann, sitting nearly
opposite, with hers also cut, but not effectually. Mr. King, as
well as other surgeons, who had been called in, attended to the
latter, and there is every likelihood that the poor little girl will
recover. On going up stairs, the constable perceived the
younger child with its head hanging out of bed, quite dead,
with its throat cut, and the bed deluged with blood. There
can be no doubt that the father committed the murders with
three knives, as a large bacon knife, covered with blood, was
found in the bedroom, a table knife in the back parlor, and
another in the man's hand. They all appeared to have been
recently sharpened. Superintendent Lund, of the P division,
was shortly after on the spot, when information was forwarded
to the coroner of the horrible circumstance. The news soon
spread and thousands of people assembled." — Observer,
October 6ft, 1851.

Here follow two most unnatural and distressing cases :

" MURDER OF A CHILD BY ITS MOTHER, AND DEATH OE THE

LATTER.

An inquest was held at Durham, on Friday last, on the
bodies of Catherine Smith and her infant child. It appeared
that the deceased woman had been married three weeks to a
shipwright when she gave birth to a male child, which she
destroyed by dashing its head against the wall, and then ex-
pired for want of proper attendance after delivery. Her hus-
band had accused her of being in the family-way, but she had
denied the fact. He had given her some medicine when she
complained of being ill, and had gone out to work. It was
during his absence that she effected the above murder." —
Observer, December loth, 1851.

"HORRIBLE TRAGEDY AT LOUGHREA.

This town has been thrown into great excitement in conse-
quence of the murder of two children by their mother. The
unfortunate perpetrator of this crime is a Mrs Colgrave, the
wife of the head-constable of police here. On Thursday night
week, her husband being absent, she sent her maid on a mes-
sage from the police-barrack, in which she lived. Having
secured the door, she proceeded to the bed where her children

320

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

(two boys), aged respectively four years and a half and nine
months, were sleeping, and murdered them by cutting their
throats with a razor. The head of the elder child was nearly
severed from the body, and the wound upon the neck of the
other was such as must have produced immediate death. She
then attempted to put an end to her own life by the same
means, but did not succeed in doing so. Her husband has be-
come insane since the fatal occurrence. She was of a morbid,
melancholy temperament, but until this occurrence an affec-
tionate mother and wife." — Observer, January 2Qth, 1852.

The next case to which I call your attention is the
murder of a poor little child by its step-father, who
threw7 it into a well. The annals of desperate wickedness
seldom furnish a more revolting case.

"MURDER OF AN INFANT IN SURREY.

A most tragical event has just come to light. A man named
Keene, who was formerly for some time in the employment of
the South-Eastern Railway Company, at Shalford station, as
an engine cleaner, was married to a native of Albury, whose
maiden name was Jane Broomer. While single, about May,
1848, she was confined of an illegitimate child, the putative
father of which' was stated by her to be a policeman. It was
after this period she was married to Keene, and one day, when
walking out together on the Downs, he took the child away
from her and walked away with it, being absent from her about
three quarters of an hour, when he returned, bringing the
shawl the child was wrapped in, and giving it to his wife,
stating that she would never again want it for the same pur-
pose it had been used for. This happened about ten months
ago. She made frequent inquiries of him what he had done
with the child ? which she at last elicited from him ; for about
a week since she disclosed to her mother the sad secret that
her husband had thrown the child down a well, situate in the
Warren, in the parish of Guildford. The poor old woman, in
the anguish of her mind, communicated the facts to one of her
sons, who soon made it known to the proper police authorities
at Guilford, who took Keene and his wife into custody.
Superintendent Radley and one of his nun went to Shere, on
Tuesday afternoon week, and procuring some well tackle, pro-
ceeded with proper assistance to the well pointed out by the
woman Keene. A man of the name of William Edser, who

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

321

was accidentally passing at the time, and who had formerly
assisted in digging this well, undertook to pro down. The
depth is about 187 feet ; when he reached the bottom he was
horror-struck at seeing the skeleton of a child lying on its
back — one foot across a small beam. On trying to lift it, it
fell to pieces. He gathered up the bones, put them into a
basket, and brought them to the top with him. An inquest
was held on the body, but adjourned. On Tuesday Keene and
his wife were examined at Guildford before the magistrates,
when evidence was given proving that the female prisoner had
confessed the crime of which her husband had been guilty.
She said that she would have made the confession before, but
her husband had threatened to murder her if she said anything
about it. In order to give the police the fullest opportunity
of collecting all the facts relating to the horrible affair, as also
to learn the result of the coroner's investigation, the bench
remanded the prisoners, and they were despatched to Horse-
monger lane jail." — Observer, February 9th, 1852.

The last case is bad enough, truly, but worse are to fol-
low. Take, for example, the following, which is the de-
struction of a child from continued ill-treatment and
starvation, by its aunt, who was aided and abetted by its
own father. I grieve to say, too, that that father was a
clergyman, and that the insensate brutality which seems
to characterize this British people extends even to
those whose mission it is to preach "peace on earth,
good-will to men." It is true that the perpetrators of
this crime resided at the time in India ; but they were
from this country, as you will perceive, and the case only
proves that " caelum nqn animum mutant , qui trans-
mart currunt."

"THE CHARGE AGAINST A CLERGYMAN AND HIS SISTER IN
INDIA.

A previous mail stated that the Rev. J. M'Kay and his
sister were charged with inflicting such an amount of ill-treat-
ment on the child of the male prisoner as to cause its death.
The following is the indictment. The first count charged Miss
M'Kay, with having, on the 4th of October last, and five fol-
lowing days, in Beleepoorah, at Benares, on one Helen M'Kay,
the child of the prisoner, John M'Kay, maliciously and felo-

322

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

niously made divers assaults with a whip and hempen cords,
giving her mortal wounds and bruises in different parts of her
body, of which she languished from the 4th to the 9th of Octo-
ber, and then died. And it further charged the male prisoner
with having been present at the commission of this felony and
murder, aiding and abetting the female in it: and alleged that
both did thus kill and murder the child. The second count
alleged that both the prisoners, contriving and intending to
starve and murder the child, made several assaults upon her
from the 4th to the 9th of October, and confined her in a room,
and neglected, omitted, or refused to give or suffer to be given
sufficient meat and drink for her sustenance, in consequence of
which she died, and the prisoners did thus feloniously murder
her. They were found guilty of aggravated manslaughter,
and sentenced to be transported for life to Van Diemen's Land. "
Observer, February IQth, 1852.

Early in the year 1852, we had another specimen of
what civilization was doing for the metropolis in the
neighborhood of the Bagnigge- Wells Road. A mother
and wife in that neighborhood murdered her infant, and
endeavored to hang herself, as you will see by the follow-
ing account :

"MURDER AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

On Monday morning last, considerable excitement was
created throughout the neighborhood of Bagnigge Wells-road,
by the discovery that on the previous day a young woman
named Barbara Goodwin, aged 26 years, the wife of a car-
penter in the employ of Mr. Greenend, builder, in the Caledo-
nian road, living at the house of her parents with her husband,
No 18 George street, in that locality, had murdered her infant
child, Thomas Goodwin, aged seventeen months, and also made
a most desperate attempt on her own life by cutting her throat
with a razor. From inquiries made on the spot, it appears
that for some time past she had been observed to be very low-
spirited, and to express a wish that she was in the grave. Her
friends frequently urged her to cheer up, and not give way to
such dulness, but without avail. She was dotingly fond of
her child, 10 months old, and was constantly caressing it. On
Saturday night last, about half past six o'clock, she sent for a
female relation, who came to her house, on which she found

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

323

tier in a very depressed state of mind, when she repeated her
wish to be in the grave. At about ten o'clock on Saturday-
night, she retired to rest with her husband and child. At an
early hour on Sunday morning, a young woman, residing in
the same house, had her attention attracted by a gurgling
noise, and shortly after, Mr. Goodwin, the husband, was awoke
out of his sleep by the same noise, when he found his child in
the struggles of death ; his wife having administered to it a
quantity of deadly poison, and the mother was lying on the
bed bleeding profusely from a wound in her throat, which she
had inflicted with her husband's razor. 'He instantly made an
alarm, and Dr. Wicker, a neighboring surgeon, was sent for,
and he promptly attended and rendered e-very assistance. He
administered antidotes to the child, and sewed up the wound
on the throat of the unhappy mother, who now lies at her resi-
dence in a dangerous condition. The poor child, which was a
handsome little creature, died shortly after the poison had been
administered to it. No reason is at present assigned for the
rash acts. She is kept very quiet, and all that she has been
heard to say, with reference to the deceased child is, that " the
dear child is in heaven, where she hopes soon to be with it."

On Wednesday, Mr. Wakley, M.P., opened an inquiry into
the circumstances at the sign of the Britannia, Britannia street,
Gray's Inn road, when it appeared that Mrs. Goodwin had
always discharged her domestic duties with every affection and
propriety, never betraying the slightest aberration of intellect
until the death of her father, to whom she was fondly attached,
and who died eight months ago, since which period she had
become melancholy. It also appeared that when Dr. Wicker
had dressed the wound in her throat, and restored her to con-
sciousness, in answer to questions put to her, she said that
when she brought the child iuto the room adjoining the bed-
room on the Sunday morning, she gave it a teaspoonful and a
half of laudanum, and drank herself the remaining contents of
two phials, which she bought at different shops in pennyworths.
After taking the laudanum she brought the child again to bed,
when she vomited up the poison, and fearing that the child
would die, and she would live, she cut her own throat with a
razor, which she then wrapped in her pocket-handkerchief and
placed under her pillow. The coroner having been informed
that the mother was in a hopeless state, ordered her immediate
removal to the hospital, and adjourned the inquiry until it was
ascertained whether the mother survived or not. The unfor-
tunate creature is under the surveillance of the police." —
Observer, Feb. Uh, 1852.

324

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

When I had read this report, I called Buck's attention
to it, and remarked that it afforded further evidence of
that need of the missionary in the Bagnigge-Wells Boad
which he had suggested.

" May depend upon it, Marster," said he, " the devil has
got persession o' them people. But fact is, I begin to find
so many other places here, 'bout as bad, that I'm sort o'
jubous ef it's worth while to send a mishunnary to them
people while so many in other places in this country is
starvin for the bread o' life. We can't 'ford to send
preachers an Bibles to all on um, sir, you know. Hit's a
thousand pities, too ! But, Marster, I'm beginnin to larn
that heap o' the bad doins here is owin to gin. The devil
is behind the gin-barrel, I do suppose ; but gin is at the
bottom of so much villany here, that I think some o' them
'postles o' temperance is needed 'bout as bad as the pair-
son. I do bleeve, Marster, ef we could git Mars. George
Pearce to come over here, he would knock the hind sights
off o' some o' old Satan's big guns ; but hit '11 take Uncle
] )abney , or some o' them temperence fellers, sir, to spike
'um."

I will recur to the subject of this letter in my next;
and now beg leave to add only that I am, sir,
Respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Major J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

325

LETTEE XXXIV.

CHARGE AGAINST A FARMER, OF MURDER, BY THROWING A
CHILD TO BE DEVOURED BY A SOW — CRUELTY TO A CHILD

THREE YEARS OLD MURDER OF A CHILD — FATAL CRUELTY

TO A CHILD BY BURNING IT IN THE HAND WITH A LIVE

COAL MURDER OF CHILDREN FOR BURIAL-FEES MURDER

OF A CHILD BY STARVATION, AND ILL-TREATMENT BY
FATHER AND STEP-MOTHER — CRUEL TREATMENT OF A CHILD

BY ITS MOTHER CHILD-TORTURE, BY WAY OF CHRISTMAS

SPORTS.

London, April 6th, 1854.

Dear Major: — Continuing the subject which I was
treating when I last wrote to yoii, I send you other in-
stances of brutal cruelty to children on the part of
this British people. And the next to which I call your
attention is so shocking, and disgusting in its details, as
almost to deter me from dwelling on it long enough to
enclose it to you. Bead it, if you can, and agree with
me, that never, even when struggling with the heaviest
nightmare, did it enter into the brain of an American to
dream of anything half so horrible.

"CHARGE OF MURDER AGAINST A FARMER BY THROWING AN
INFANT TO BE DEVOURED BY A SOW.

The Brecon county magistrates were engaged for several
hours on the 28th ult., in investigating a charge preferred
against Mr. Thomas Phillips, of Pentrenaboth, in the hamlet
of Senny, Brecknockshire, by a discharged servant of his,
named Hugh Williams. It appeared that upon Williams de-
manding an arrear of wages due to him about three weeks
back, a quarrel ensued, when Williams accused his master of
having murdered his illegitimate Child by throwing it alive to
a sow, who devoured the infant. This report having obtained
28

326

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR;

circulation, Phillips felt anxious to retrieve his character, and
caused an attorney at Brecon to demand a retraction of the
charge. Instead, however, of doing so, Williams at once de-
nounced his master before the magistrate as a murderer, and
brought a lad, who with himself was in Phillips's employ,
to prove the fact. Mr. Phillips voluntarily appeared before
the magistrates, and declared his wish to meet the charge at
once. Hugh Williams was then sworn, and deposed that in
the month of March, 1850, he was in the employ of Phillips.
One day as he was coming up towards the fold, he saw Phil-
lips. An infant lay on the ground before him, being devoured
by a sow. He saw the child in the sow's mouth, and heard it
cry. The so*- was eating the lower portion of the body. Had
never seen the child at Phillips's before. There was a female
servant in the house. Had heard people say there was some-
thing the matter with her. The previous night she was faint-
ing. There was a boy in the service then, named Thomas
Williams. The girl's name was Margaret Morgan. When
the sow was eating the child, witness attempted to stop her.
She ran off, and had devoured it all before he got up to the
sow. Witness told Phillips of it then, and he said if he dared
to say anything about it he would kill him directly.

Cross-examined by Mr. S. B. Evans: Mentioned it to
' Peggy of the Yelin' (of the mill) directly afterwards. Thos.
Phillips turned the sow into the pigsty immediately. Marga-
ret Morgan stood at the door looking at the sow eating the
child. She did not work for two or three days about that time.
She is now at Dowlais. (Here some person stated that Mar-
garet Morgan was in court, she having, it appeared, been
fetched as a witness on behalf of Phillips. She was, however,
brought forward and placed in the dock as a prisoner.) She
complained of being unwell. She said, after witness went to
her, ' Oh !' and clasped her hands together. Witness first ran
after the sow, and then retu-ned and asked Phillips and the
girl what they had been doing. Davis was in the fold then.
He wanted to go home. He was afraid of the sow, which used
to be very savage. The witness was then cross-examined at
some length as to some delusion he had lately labored under
of having been carried away by a ghost many miles across the
country, which he gravely admitted to have been the fact, much
to the surprise and astonishment of all present.

Thomas Davis was then called. He stated that he was 14
years of age. Last .March twelvemonth he was in the service
of Phillips. One day, about dinner-time, he saw Phillips bring

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

a little child out of the house on a tilestone, and throw it
down before the sow. Phillips fetched the sow from the cot.
Heard the child cry. Hugh Williams came up when the child
was half devoured. Margaret Morgan came to the door.
Witness was afraid of the sow, and ran away. Told his mother
and 'Peggy of the Post' of it immediately he reached home.
His mother's name was Ann Davis. The prisoner Margaret
Morgan was the girl who was looking at the sow eating the
child. The witness, who appeared to be an intelligent lad,
gave his evidence in a straightforward manner. After hearing
the evidence, the magistrates stated their intention of remand-
ing the prisoner for further examination to Saturday next,
when the mother of the boy and other witnesses will be sum-
moned to attend. Heavy bail was tendered for the appearance
of Phillips, but refused. "—Observer, March. Sth, 1852.

Another case of parental cruelty occurred about the
same time in Birmingham, and is reported in the " Ob-
server " of March loth, 1852 ; being copied from a Birm-
ingham paper, as follows :

"CRUELTY TO A CHILD.

The facts of a very melancholy case of parental cruelty
transpired at an inquest held on the body of the sufferer, a little
boy named John Le Tort, about three years old, at the
Thatched House Tavern, Duddiston row, on Wednesday last,
Deceased was the son of William Le Tort, a travelling eques-
trian, who with his wife, deceased, and another child, two years
older, had lived in apartments for about a week previously at
a beer-shop, called the Great Gun, and his father had been
training him to perform gymnastic and other feats peculiar to
the profession to which he belonged. Le Tort was seen endea-
voring to make the deceased stand head downwards upon his
hands, and each time the poor little fellow failed in doing so,
which he did from weakness, his father caught hold of him and
shook him severely, and then dashed him apparently with great
force to the ground. The poor boy was afterwards found
extended upon the ground, in a dying state, and he expired a
few moments before the arrival of Mr. Simons, surgeon. Le
Tort, when spoken to on the subject, seemed much shocked,
and said that he was turning the deceased a somersault, and
instead of alighting on his feet, as he should have done, he fell
upon his head, and that caused his death. This was the whole

328

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ', OR,

of the positive evidence bearing on the case that could be ob-
tained, and the inquiry at this stage was adjourned until the
following day, in order that Mr. Simons might make a post
mortem examination. On the resumption of the inquiry, Mr.
Simons stated that the child had died from effusion on the
brain, caused by some extrinsic force or resistance, and he was
of opinion that a child of deceased's age, having such bruises
on his body as he had found, was not in a proper condition to
perform vigorous gymnastic exercises with safety to his life.
The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against Le Tort,
whose real name turns out to be Fitzmartin, ^nd lie was com-
mitted to take his trial at the ensuing assizes." — Birmingham
Journal.

In what country, but such an one as abounded in cruel
and bloodthirsty ruffians, could be found even a man of
weak intellect, who would maltreat and murder a poor
little child, as you will find, from the following extract,
was done about the same time in Berkshire ?

"MURDER NEAR MAIDENHEAD.

A laboring man, named John Cannon, residing at Boyne
Hill, has, for the last two years, taken as a lodger a relative
of his wife, named Isaac Lee, who has always shown indica-
tions of weak intellect. On Tuesday morning week, having
been left in the house with a little girl about four years of age,
a granddaughter of John Cannon's, he cruelly murdered the
poor child, it is supposed by knocking its head against the
floor, and afterwards kicking it about the room. Lee was
taken before the magistrates on Friday week, and committed
to take his trial at the next assizes for the county of Berks for
murder." — Observer, March 2dth, 1852.

I now approach a case so fiendish, that, even after the
preparation of experience through which you have been
passing! you can scarcely believe it possible. It was the
burning of a poor little orphan child, in the workhouse at
Greenwich, by its nurse, who placed a burning coal of fire
in its hand, and held down the fingers until the coal grew
black. During the terrible torture, the woman boxed and
beat the poor little sufferer, so as to prevent it from cry-
ing out in its agony, although, according to the testimony

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

329

of the physician, it was so burnt as eventually to cause
the thumb and fingers to double into the hand. And all
this was done for no offence, and upon slight provocation.

This woman was prosecuted for the assault, and con-
victed; and the monster was sentenced by the judge to
fourteen days imprisonment only.

The child soon afterwards died ; its death was attri-
buted to this cause, and an inquest was held upon the
body, which herewith I send you :

FATAL CRUELTY AT GREENWICH UNION. *

The late atrocious case of burning at the Greenwich Union
house, which has excited much attention throughout the coun-
try, is at an end. After a lingering illness, consequent on the
injuries received, the child Garwood is no more, death having
put an end to its sufferings on Sunday last. The public will
very naturally ask, is the farcical sentence of fourteen days'
imprisonment, passed by the Common Sergeant, at the late
session of the Central Criminal Court, to atone for the de-
priving of this child of life ? If so, then, indeed, are the poor
left in our unions without protection ; for there can be little
doubt but that the injuries inflicted have been the cause of its
death. From the time the discovery was made, till the day of
its death, the child became exceedingly ill, and such was its
state on Friday week, that Dr. Sturton called in the assistance
of Mr. South, surgeon of Guy's Hospital, who, on seeing de-
ceased, pronounced the case hopeless, and that there was no
chance of its recovery.

The nurse, Oldham, was liberated from Newgate on the
fifteenth inst, and a very few hours afterwards made her ap-
pearance at the Greenwich Union in a disgraceful state of in-
toxication, and, claiming admission, said that a gentleman had
given her a glass of wine, thus rendering her in the condition
she was then in. At the meeting of the board on Thursday,
she made her appearance before the guardians, when they
unanimously resolved to expel her from the house. The child
was an orphan, its widowed mother having, at the recent visi-
tation, been taken off with the gholera, and, previous to the
injuries inflicted, was one of the healthiest and liveliest children
in the house. The question now remains to be decided —
Whether she can or cannot be again arraigned, seeing that
death has since resulted from her conduct, and made to answer
28*

330

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

a charge, if not of wilful murder, at least of manslaughter ?
If she is altogether. to escape, then, indeed, is the law of Eng-
land an anomaly.

Inquest on the body. — On Wednesday last an inquest was
held in the Board room of the union workhouse, before M r.
C. Carttar. Mr. B. Carter (chairman of the board) and Mr.
John Wade (one of the guardians) were present; and Mi.
Saw, clerk to the board, watched the proceedings, which, from
the numbers present, appeared to excite great interest.

The coroner begged the jury to dismiss from their minds
everything they had heard in reference to the case, and to at-
tend toithe evidence, in the first instance, of the medical men

as to the cause of the death There was no qnes-

• tion as to who had inflicted the injury, as that had been ad-
mitted ; the only question was had the injury been the cause
of, or had it hastened the death of the child ?

Mr. Ellis, the master of the workhouse, identified the body
of John Gaywood, aged six ; he was an orphan, and had been
in the workhouse three years.

Mr. W. Sturton, medical officer of the union, deposed that
deceased was first brought under his notice on Monday, the
27th of December. Witness found him laboring under a burn
of the right hand, which was not quite healed, and had a poul-
tice on it ; at this time deceased appeared weak and a good
deal out of spirits, and had lost his usual energy ; had known
the deceased before, and he appeared a lively boy ; witness
had him removed to the infirmary at once ; when removed, de-
ceased did not appear ill, but a good deal distressed ; thinking
he appeared very delicate, and required more support, witness
ordered him a little porter; a few days after the child went to
the police court, and also to the Old Bailey, on the 4th and
5th of January; there was no change in his health for four or
five days after this, the wound was healed, but cicatrices left
upon the fingers ; they were contracted, and would have been
more so had the deceased lived. About the eighth or ninth
deceased took to his bed, being affected with a slight diarrhoea ;
upon which witness changed his diet, and instead of porter
ordered him port wine, arrow root, anything else he might
wish for being allowed him. Deceased continued to get worse
till the 2()th of January, bejng then seized with fits and con-
vulsions Ilis death was caused by watery effusion

on the brain. He had written to Mr. South, after he had
seen the deceased, to give his opinion for the information of
the board of guardians.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

331

In answer to questions from the coroner and jury, witness
said he did not think the taking him to the Old Bailey did
him any harm. He was assisted at the post-mortem exami-
nation by Dr. Bristow. They found nothing externally bat
an attenuated state of body ; there was serous effusion at the
base of the brain, and the veins and capillary vessels were
congested. He had made no examination of the veins leading
from the hand to the arm-pit ; could not connect the injury on
the hand with the disease of which the child died, but if the
child was laboring under it at the time the injury was inflicted,
it would accelerate it. Fright would produce the disease, and
there was no doubt the child had suffered very much.

John Syer Bristow, M. D., demonstrator of morbid anatomy
at St. Thomas's, corroborated the statements of Mr. Sturton.
He did not think the injury had caused the disease, but thought
it would accelerate it. If the child had lived, it never could
have had any use of the hand.

It may here be stated that Mr. Sturton did not see the child
for three weeks after the injury had been inflicted.

Elizabeth Ellis, inmate of the union, deposed that deceased
was playing with the fireguard in the day room, when the
nurse Oldham was poking the fire. A red hot cinder fell out
of the fire, which Oldham picked up with a piece of rag and
placed it in deceased's hand, squeezed it, and held it there
from five to ten minutes [sensation]. Deceased did not cry
whilst the cinder was in his hand, but did so when the nurse
took it out, when she placed him on a form near the fireguard.

By the Coroner : The cinder was of a red heat when placed
in deceased's hand. The hand was pressed down on the cinder,
which was about the size of a walnut, by Oldham, and when
taken from the hand the cinder was black.

Evidence continued : The nurse Oldham went up to the
schoolmistress about a quarter of an hour after the injury was
done, and told her of it. Deceased was rather tiresome, but
never played with the fire.

By a Juror : He was only playing with the fireguard — not
with the fire. Witness said, ' Oh,' to which Oldham replied,
'You may say P if you like.' When deceased began crying,
Oldham boxed his ears to make him leave off.

By Mr. Wade : Oldham held the deceased's fingers down
with her hand.

By the Coroner : When the coal was taken out of deceased's
hand, it was quite black, and nothing was done to the hand
that night. The hand appeared very red.

332

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

Evidence resumed : A bread-and-water poultice was applied
to it the next morning. When Oldham told the schoolmistress
of it, she said, ' Oh, dear, I've done a most cruel thing; j»ve
burnt the child's hand.' The schoolmistress made answer,
' Yes ; you ought not to have done that.'

By Air. Wade : Had seen the hand once before the doctor
saw it, and it was very bad, and was discharging at the time.
Did not think the matron knew anything about it. The matron
came into the school about once in the three weeks it was bad,
but she did not see it then ; neither did the guardians, nor Mr.
Sturton.

By a Juror : The matron does not often come into the
school. The sub-matron ( Miss Perry) came in about once a
fortnight — sometimes once a month. The nurse and school-
mistress look after the children. The nurse Oldham and my-
self slept in the same room with deceased, but did not hear
him cry during the night. Oldham told the deceased to put
his hand under his pinafore. It was the duty of the governess
to tell Mr. Ellis, the master, of the affair.

Mary Ann Southward, the mistress of the infant school of
the union, was next examined : She said she received informa-
tion of the injuries from the nurse, Oldham, who said, 'I have
done a very cruel act — I have put a cinder into the child's
hand, but I did it to save its life, as he was playing with the
fire.' Witness looked at the hand and found it red, but did
nothing to it till the next morning. With regard to the state-
ment of the witness Ellis, about the fire-guard, and who had
said it was impossible for the child to get at the fire, she (wit-
ness) would contradict such statement, as on one side of the
guard there were six, and on the other four rods out, so that
any child could get through to the fire. Witness' did not think
anything very serious had taken place, but thought that in a
lew days it would have got well. That was the reason she did
not report it.

By a Juror : It was her duty to have reported the case to
the master, but did not think it was so serious as it had proved,
or she should have done so. Saw the hand nearly every day,
and considered it was getting better, when taken to the
hospital.

Another Juror : But there is very great blame attached to
you for not reporting it.

Witness admitted this, but stated that there was nothing
done to conceal it from any one. She denied that the child

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

333

had ever been taught to keep its hand under its pinafore to
keep it out of sight, as she was aware of.

Mr. Wade remarked that in going through the school, an-
other girl had been found by the guardians with her hand held
up, and the question was put to her as to what was the matter.
In going through the infant school, however, nothing of the
kind had been observed with the deceased.

Mr. Sturton was recalled, and in answer to the coroner,
stated that at the time the child was brought under his notice,
the thumb and fingers were contracted, and deceased could not
use ttrem.

A juror expressed surprise at the schoolmistress taking upon
herself the management of the hand, whilst in such a state,
which he considered was putting herself in opposition to the
doctor of the house, upon which the schoolmistress retired.

A meeting of the board of guardians was held the follow-
ing day, Thursday, the twenty-seventh instant, at which Mr.
Wade moved a resolution for the appointment of a paid nurse,
with a salary of £12 per annum, instead of having the chil-
dren looked after, or rather neglected by paupers, such as Old-
ham, of whom the best character that could be given by the
schoolmistress was, that she was not in general very unkind to
the children, but that she was very passionate. It says much
for the humanity of the guardians, that the motion fell to the
ground for want of a seconder." — Observer, January Slat,
1853.

The humane editor who published the above account,
and whose voice, as you have seen, has been several times
raised to denounce the atrocious inhumanity of his coun-
trymen and countrywomen, again cried out passionately
against this frightful crime, as follows :

" In the name of outraged justice, in the name of humanity
trampled under foot, in the name finally of violated law, the
official protectors of the public at large, the official guardians
of the pauper — police, parish authorities, and law officers of
the Crown — are hereby required to take up the case of the
deceased orphan Gaywood, and, without delay, to bring the
woman Oldham, accused by public opinion of his death, before
the criminal bar of the country." — Observer, January 31st,
1853.

334

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

And yet, Major, this people — this very editor among
them — are so terribly infatuated, in the face of such facts
as appear in this report, as still to meddle with the sub-
ject of slavery in our States, and foolishly to talk of its
horrors. Its horrors, forsooth ! Why, what is there,
even in the exaggerated pictures of Mrs. Stowe's book,
like to this ? Can the editor find anything which will
bear any sort of comparison with it, in the " Key to
Uncle Tom's Cabin?" I put it to you, Major, was ever
anything half so awful heard of in our slave States, in
the treatment of blacks or whites, children or adults?
And are you not sure, with an intensity of conviction,
dear Major, that nowhere will such an instance of de-
praved inhumanity as that just related, create a more un-
utterable sense of horror, than among the inhabitants of
our slave States, white and black ?

The following, in its devilish atrocity, is worthy of asso-
ciation with the case of torture at the Greenwich Union :

"Eliza Cornish and John Cornish, by brutal treatment and
starvation caused the death of Mark Cornish, a child of the
latter by a former wife. The child was often seen eating offal.
They were sentenced to fifteen years' transportation." — The
Leader, April, 1853.

About this time, much was said in the newspapers of
England about the pernicious effects of what are called
" burial-clubs," as incentives to murder; and several
cases were reported of murders, by parents, of children,
(who had been made members of these burial unions,) for
the sake of the burial fees. You have the subject suc-
cinctly referred to, and a case in point cited, in the fol-
lowing extract :

"There are then but two cases of late date which seem to
deserve mention at our hands : the first is in Monday's papers,
and is that of a young mother, aged twenty, wilfully murdering
her child, sis stupidly as brutally, with oil of vitriol, for the
mere sordid motive of obtaining the paltry gain to be got out
of a burial club, of which the infant had been entered as a
member. In the trial there is nothing peculiar to remark;
nor is there, we fear, in the wretched woman who was tried,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

335

any such great peculiarity as there should be. So low is the
moral cultivation of the classes by whose patronage burial
clubs thrive, that among them the murder of members by their
relatives for the fees is of almost constant occurrence — that
even maternal instinct becomes distorted or destroyed. So
low is their mental cultivation, that discovery always follows
on their crime, and the secretary of the club hangs them, as
they poisoned their acquaintances, neither from personal malice
nor from public feeling, but simply with a calm and business-
like view to the possession of the undertaking expenses. In
this case the mother administers oil of vitriol to her child, and
doubtless is surprised at the traces left by the dose — an argu-
ment for or against education, seeing that the crime would
not have been committed, had the criminal been properly
trained ; and, on the other hand, that it would not have been
discovered had she not been perfectly ignoraut. The only
question left by the dilemma is, whether to prevent be not
better than to punish." — The Leader, April 16th, 1853.

Ah, it is sad to think that poor little helpless children
are continually doomed to suffer in the way we have seen
throughout this kingdom — that such a cry of agony from
infantile lips, caused by cruelty, during almost every
hour of the day and night, in this great country, is thus
perpetually uttered in the ear of God, whilst the great
and powerful, and rich and good of the land, are deaf to
these mournful sounds, because their ears are filled with
the imaginary cries of some fictitious Uncle Tom, who
groans beneath the slave-driver's lash upon the banks of
the Eed Eiver. It is sad, indeed, to reflect that such
sympathies are to a great extent expended and wasted
upon our generally happy slaves — our slaves, who, with
their children, enjoy the blessings of health, and food, and
clothing, and cheerfulness, and content, while so many of
these wretched little English children are suffering and
dying in the way we have been contemplating.

I will add one more case of recent occurrence, which
exemplifies the astonishing and indescribable cruelty of
parents to their offspring in this country :

" CRUEL TREATMENT OF A CHILD.

Mr. a'Beckett was occupied until a late hour on Thursday
in investigating charges against George Dalton and Amelia

336

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ', OR,

Holloway, for exercising great cruelty to Mary Ann Hollo-
way, aged fifteen months, their illegitimate offspring,

The additional evidence given on Thursday was of Hannah
Willett, sister to the female prisoner, who said she lived with
her husband at Manor-street, Chelsea, and she took care of
the infant from the 12th ultimo until the 26th, when she de-
livered it up to her sister, in her house at Brandon-row. No
accident had occurred while she had it, and there was nothing
the matter with it, except being a little sickly. There were
marks of burns on one of the legs and on the chest, but they
wrere healed up. Witness was perfectly sober when she de-
livered the child up to the prisoner.

Mr. James Moreton, house-surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospi-
tal, said the child was brought to him by Mrs. Marley, the
landlady, on Wednesday, the 4th inst., when he examined it
and found the right fore arm was broken, and the left was also
broken. The collar-bone was likewise broken, and scars of
old burns were on the right leg from the knee downwards, and
on the chest, just under the chin. The fractures appeared of
some days' standing — either ten days or a fortnight. There
were no marks of violence where the fractures were situated,
neither did it appear that any bandages or splints had been
used. The infant was extremely emaciated, thin, and weak.
It seemed very greedy when food was offered to it, and wit-
ness then considered it in danger. It had since taken food
well, and was not in anywise incapacitated from so doing.
The child had no positive disease, and was then out of danger.
He was sure that no one could have nursed that child without
knowing the frightful state it was in.

Mr. a'Beckett, on hearing that there were no other witnesses,
said he had made up his mind to commit the prisoners for
trial, but as he understood from Mr. Moreton, the house-sur-
geon of the hospital, that the child was not then in danger,
he would accept bail for the prisoners' attendance at the
sessions.

Mr. Chester requested that twenty-four hours' notice should
be given, as the charge was of a serious description.

Mr. a'Beckett finally made that order, and the prisoners
were removed by the jailor." — Sunday Times, Jan. 15//?, 1854.

I cannot afford room for more upon this subject than
the following remarks by the editor whom I have several
tunes quotea, and from whose paper, because it was the
one most convenient to me, 1 have taken the greater

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

337

number of the reports and extracts which I have sent
you. The article was published some time during the past
year.

"CHRISTMAS SPORTS.

Ecce iterum crispinus. The old story of brutality, brutality,
always brutality, only remains to be told. Scoundrels well
dressed and scoundrels ill dressed still continue to half murder
helpless women. Marital disapprobation has assumed the
form of conjugal death ; ' lovers' quarrels' have become sangui-
nary executions, at least on the side of man the stronger ; and,
to vary this Christmas cheer, little children, innocent, tender
infants, have been all but immolated at the truculent shrine
of savage irritability and slaughterous propriety.

Two cases of recent child torture present themselves in pain-
ful prominence to the mind's eye in connection with this ques-
tion of practical impunity. On the Monday of the past week,
a head nurse in a pauper establishment near Greenwich, was
charged before the police magistrate of the district, with having
taken a 'live coal' from the fire, placed it in the tiny hand of
an infant of four years old under her ' care,' held the little hand
closed firmly over it until the coal was cold, and, while the
flesh was hissing, threatened the sufferer, with an uplifted cane,
if it cried or made the least disturbance. The fox eating out
the heart of the young Spartan was a trifle to this. But,
nevertheless, though the wretch acknowledged the next
morning that she had committed a very cruel act, and though
the cruelty, in all its hideous atrocity, was completely proved ;
still the judge before whom she was sent to the Old Bailey,
notwithstanding the jury found her guilty, sentenced her only
to the inevitable 'fortnight,' without — it is almost a wonder
— offering her the alternative of a forty shilling fine. It is to
be hoped, however, that public indignation, which is never
wrong in its abhorrence of such brutality — whatsoever may
be said of judges, high and low — will play the part of Grand
Justiciar on this occasion, and expel the wretch from human
society. The case of the Sloanes was bad enough, God knows I
This, however, is a worse case.

But there is even a worse still behind. A short time since
another infant of tender years — perhaps about the same age
— while passing by the Horse Guards with a poor — a very
poor woman, her mother — was overtaken by a necessity which
29 W

338

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

all must yield to, and obliged to seek ease over an iron grating
which covered the window of a kitchen or other subterranean
office in that national edifice. While there the infantile crea-
ture's body was actually cut into — her little bowels actually
dissevered — by a sharp and pointed instrument, probably an
office penknife, wielded by the hand of some human monster
below ; and she now lies in a hopeless state in a public hospi-
tal. The reader will of course cry out with horror, and ask
whether the perpetrator of this abominable crime was not
promptly secured 7 The reply, however, will be in the nega-
tive. " — Observer.

In conclusion, I beg to assure you; Major, that I
remain, as ever,

Eespectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

' P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga,, U. S. of America.

LETTER XXXV.

CRUEL TREATMENT OF SERVANTS BY THE ENGLISH PEOPLE —
CHARGE OF ATROCIOUS CRUELTY TO A SERVANT BY MR.
AND MRS. SLOANE.

London, April 10th, 1854.

Dear Major : — There is another of the domestic rela-
tions of life among this people to which I desire that your
attention shall be drawn, in order that you may be able
to institute a comparison between them, as a free-labor
people, and the inhabitants of our States. That is, the
relation of master and servant.

Now, you may be prepared to expect, after what you have
read of the brutal treatment of women and children by the
people of this country, that such unnatural cruelty is
manifested in their conduct towards servants also. I
acknowledge that the inference is legitimate. But I am

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

339

sure that you are not prepared for the enormity of the
developments which are to be made upon this subject ;
and when you have read what I have to communicate,
you will indeed wonder at the fatuity of those who throw
stones from such a fragile structure.

In the latter part of the year 1850, there occurred in
this city a case of cruelty to a servant so diabolical and
despicable as to render it incredible, if it had not been
established by undoubted testimony. The proceedings
against the offenders were first instituted in December,
1850, but were not terminated until 1851 ; and I may
therefore properly embrace them in the transactions of
that year. I send you a portion of these proceedings
before the police court, from which you may gather most
of the facts.

u CHARGE OF ATROCIOUS CRUELTY AGAINST MR. SLOANE, A
SPECIAL PLEADER.

On Friday, Mr. George Sloane, a special pleader, of No. 6
Pump court, Temple, and one of the directors of the Church
of England Assurance Institution, Lothbury, appeared at the
Guildhall police court in discharge of his bail, to answer the
charge of cruelty practised upon his servant, Jane Wilbred,
during a course of two years that she had been in his service.
Mr. Sloane appeared quite collected.

It was generally believed that this case was only remanded
for the purpose of completing some of the depositions previous
to sending it for trial ; nevertheless, at an early hour the doors
of the justice-room were closed, in order to prevent the court
from being inconveniently crowded during the proceedings.
This proved a very necessary measure, as, by the time the
alderman had taken his seat on the bench, a vast concourse of
people, apparently for the most part composed of citizens and
professional gentlemen, had collected in Guildhall yard, each
anxious to gain admittance, and to catch a glimpse of the
parties who had made themselves so horribly notorious.

On Saturday week a warrant was issued for the apprehen-
sion of Mrs. Sloane, in order to insure her appearance at the
examination on Friday, but on the officers visiting her residence
for the purpose of executing the warrant, they found the fur-
niture strewn about the room in great disorder, as if the occu-
pants anticipated a sudden departure. The chambers under-

340

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD OR,

went a strict search then, and again two hours after, but Mrs.
Sloane was nowhere to be found, although Mr. Philips (de-
fendant's solicitor) assured the court and alderman, on the last
examination, that she was unable to leave her bed through
severe indisposition, caused by an injury she had sustained to
her leg by slipping it accidentally through an area railing.
Such was the great interest excited in the minds of the people
in consequence of the expected appearance of Mrs. Sloane,
who appears to have acted with greater cruelty to the unfor-
tunate girl than the defendant, Mr. Sloane, that there was such
a crowd inside the justice room, and in every outlet of the
court, as has not been known for many years. So general,
indeed, was the excitement, that gentlemen were seen applying
at every door of the building, and anxiously claiming acquaint-
ance with the officials of the office, in order to obtain admission
to this 'chamber of horrors.'

Alderman Humphrey asked if Mrs. Sloane was present ?
Roe (the summoning officer of the court) : She is not, Sir.
Alderman Humphrey : Did you serve the summons ?
Roe : I did, Sir.

Alderman Humphrey : Was a warrant issued against her ?
Roe : There was, Sir.

Alderman Humphrey : Did you serve it upon her ?

Roe : I served it at the house in Pump court.

Alderman Humphrey : Whom did you see there ?

Roe : I saw Mr. Sloane ; he opened the door to me, and
said I was quite welcome to search the place, but he could
assure me that Mrs. Sloane was not there. He said that Mrs.
Sloane's friends had advised her not to attend here, but to sur-
render to take her trial at the Old Bailey, so as to avoid having
a public exposure at every examination by attending the pre-
liminary proceedings.

Alderman Humphrey : Did you searcli the chambers ?

Roe : Yes, Sir ; I searched every room twice ; but neither
time did I see anything of Mrs. Sloane.

Alderman Humphrey: Have you made any inquiries to
ascertain where she has gone to ?

Roe : I have lodged the warrant in the hands of the police
at Fleet street station, and told all the porters and messengers
at the Temple to give information immediately they discover
any trace of her, or see anything that might lead to her ap-
prehension.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

341

Alderman Humphrey : Have you any reason to believe that
you will be able to find her ?
Roe : Not at present, Sir.

Alderman Humphrey : Then we must proceed with the case
in her absence, and deal with it as though she were present.

During these proceedings, Mr. Sloane, having received an
intimation that his presence was required in the court, came
from an adjoining room, an.d quietly took his seat in the body
of the court. His back was turned to the audience, and he
allowed his head to fall on his breast in such a manner as to
screen him from the gaze of the multitude within and without,
as if he wished to shrink from general observation.

Mr. Iluddlestone said he understood that the guardians of
the West London Union had, since the last examination,
called a meeting, at which it had been resolved that an appli-
cation should be made to the Poor-law commissioners with
reference to the present case, the result of which was that the
Poor-law Board had issued an order for the guardians to carry
on the prosecution against Mr. Sloane ; and he (Mr. Huddle-
stone) was instructed for that purpose.

Alderman Humphrey : I was quite sure that the Poor-law
Commissioners would never have prevented the guardians from
prosecuting had an application been made to them to that
etfect ; but the fact appeared that the guardians had not stirred
in the matter, and Mr. Pontifex was afraid to do so without
previously receiving his instructions from them.

Mr. Pontifex said he was not afraid, but he was not compe-
tent to act in such a matter without their sanction.

The girl, Jane Wilbred, was then brought in and placed in
a seat by the side of the Alderman. She appeared much
stronger than on the last examination, but evidently much dis-
tressed, from the excessive weakness under which she labored
in endeavoring to support herself, without aid, in her seat.
Her breathing was still very quick and difficult ; and, although
she has gained about seven pounds in weight since last week,
she still presents a most emaciated appearance both in her face
and limbs. She was dressed in a servant's plain dress, and,
from the great improvement in her general appearance since
she has been under Dr. Marsden's care, we are inclined to be-
lieve that she will, when perfectly convalescent, turn out to be
a pretty and interesting young girl.

Mr. Huddlestone having intimated his intention of putting
her under a re-examination, the usual oath was administered
to her, and she continued her statement, and the following
29*

342

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD * OR,

appallin s: and disgusting details were elicited : [It will here be
necessary to adhere to her evidence as she gave it, as her own
words will better express the atrocity of the defendant's con-
duct, than any words we* could substitute.]

Jane Wilbred, re-examined by Alderman Humphrey and
Mr. Huddlestone : Mr. Sloane often beat me ; sometimes in
the morning early and sometimes in the daytime. Mrs. Sloane
used to beat me because I wore my shift sleeves over my arms
and shoulders in the morning ; and when I cried Mr. Sloane
used to beat me for crying. Mr. Sloane called me round to
the bedside one morning and beat me on the hands with a shoe.
My mistress would not let me wear my shift on my shoulders
and neck in the morning, and, because I wore it to keep me
warm, she used to beat me on my back with a shoe. She
would not let me wear anything on my neck, or any part of
my body above the waist ; so that, from the waist upwards, I
was obliged to go about the house exposed, in the presence
of Mr. Sloane and the young lady [sensation]. Her name is
Louisa Devaux. My mistress wanted me to do the work of a
morning in that naked state [sensation], but I could not bear
the cold, as it was in the winter time. I never went to church
on Sunday, nor any place of worship. I never asked to be
allowed to go, as I did not know any place to go to. My
master and mistress and Miss Devaux never went to church.
My master sometimes went out on Sundays, but never remained
out long. My mistress never left the house. There was always
meat cooked on Sundays for Mr. and Mrs. Sloane, but I had
none of it.

Alderman Humphrey here said : I have been looking at the
girl's hands, from the practice adopted here by the prisoners,
to ascertain if they have been doing any laborious work, and
I should say that the poor creature has been worked very hard
indeed ; at all events, her hands bear strong testimony to that
effect.

Witness continued : It was several months after I first went
in July that I was treated badly. At first I was allowed to
wear all my clothes ; but, as the winter came on, my mistress
compelled me to go about the house with only my shift and
gown tied round my waist by a petticoat, as she could not wait
for me to put them on properly, or anything else to keep me
warm. She told me very often that I must not wear anything
on my neck and shoulders, but I do not recollect whether Mr.
Sloane heard her or not. Mr. Sloane often beat me on the
hands, arms, and back with a shoe, sometimes while I was

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

343

having breakfast and sometimes after. At that time I had not
as much as I could eat. I had meat sometimes three times a
week. When my mistress could not make me eat my own dirt
my master beat me until he made me do it [great sensation,
and long-continued hisses were levelled at the defendant, who
sat immovable in his chair, as if he was not at all concerned.]

Mr. Sloane was not present when she at first

attempted it, but he was when she succeeded in pushing it
down my throat. He stood behind me, so as to keep me close
in front of my mistress while she put it in' my mouth [sensation].
He beat me on that occasion with a shoe because I refused to
do as my mistress wanted, and he beat nje again after it. This
only happened once in Mr. Sloana's presence, and that was
about a fortnight before I was taken from his house. Some-
times, if I forgot to scour the fender with ashes, or clean the
footman on which the dinner is placed before the fire, Mr.
Sloane would beat me on the arms, shoulders, and back with a
shoe, in the presence of Mrs. Sloane and Miss Devaux. The
latter was present when they made me eat my own dirt. [Great
disgust was here manifested by all present, and it was with
difficulty that order was ultimately restored.]

Alderman Humphrey said : I wish to know, before proceed-
ing any further, if this girl, Miss Devaux, is present ?

Mr. Philips said : She is not present, as I was given to
understand, on the last examination, that Mr. Sloane was to
be committed to-day, and that the case was only remanded for
that purpose. He was not prepared to meet another examina-
tion at such a short notice ; but he did not complain, as
Mr. Sloane was willing and anxious to court the fullest
investigation.

Mr. Huddlestone said : Under these circumstances, I would
ask the alderman to remand the case to meet the convenience
of defendant's counsel, as I by no means wish to take an undue
advantage, particularly considering the position in which the
defendant is at present placed ; but I shall certainly consider
it my duty to continue the examination before sending the case
to the Old Bailey, the more especially as there is now no
danger to be apprehended from the state of the girl's health
in pursuing such a course. If the case is remanded for a short
time, I shall then take that opportunity of entering into the
whole of the evidence, and I cannot help thinking that, if Mr.
Sloane is well advised, he will have Mrs. Sloane here to answer
this charge on the next examination. If she does not appear
then, I shall deem it my duty to ask you Sir, not to accept

344

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

bail for Mr. Sloane's appearance at the January sessions, but

to commit him to Newgate to await his trial.

Islr. Philips said : 1 must protest against such a principle
being- adopted with regard to my client, who has always been
most anxious that every inquiry should be made, and has given
every assistance to such inquiry in his power.

Mr. Huddlestone suggested that the amount of bail should
be increased.

Alderman Humphrey said : I think it will be expedient to
increase the bail, as, in the absence of Mrs. Sloane, it was but
natural that the court should come to the conclusion that the
defendant, having screened his wife, would be quite as unwil-
ling to go through the ordeal himself.

Mr. Philips : I object to the principle of increasing the bail,
although there would be no difficulty in doing so ; still, I can-
not see the necessity for such a proceeding, as the defendant
has already appeared twice to the same amount. With regard
to the threat held out by the learned counsel for the prosecu-
tion, I beg to assure the worthy alderman that he cannot
refuse to accept bail if offered, as it is a bailable offence. At
all events, if justice is not allowed my client here in that respect,
I know where to seek it.

Mr. Huddlestone : Perhaps, Mr. Philips, you will recollect
the words of Mr. Sloane when the officer went to his house.
There can be no other construction put upon them but that he
was instrumental in keeping a witness out of the way.

Alderman Humphrey : Will you, Mr. Philips, give bail for
31rs. Sloane's appearance [laughter] ?

Mr. Philips: Is it reasonable to ask me, Sir? Would any
man in his right senses give bail for ' any woman' as to what
she would do [laughter] ? I would not,

Alderman Humphrey : Then I shall increase the amount of
bail, and shall require Mr. Sloane to find two sureties of £250
each, and himself to be bound over in the sum of £500 to ap-
pear and answer the charge on the next examination [great
applause followed this announcement, but was instantly sup-
pressed].

Some discussion ensued upon this point, when a gentleman
on the bench rose and said, 'As one of the guardians of the
West London Union, I object to the present amount of bail.'

The amount of bail as above mentioned was then agreed upon.

Mr. Sloane, during some slight confusion that followed,
went into an adjoining room, and there waited until the required
bail was forthcoming,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

345

In the interim, the following letter was read, dated —

'Hastings, December 19//?.
1 Dear Sir : If I knew the address of Mr. Pontifex, I would
not trouble you with this ; but, as you heard the case, I thought
it better to mention the circumstance to you, so that, if you
think it necessary, he may be made acquainted with it.

I A young woman called on me yesterday and stated that
she had heard of the Sloanes being charged with great cruelty
to a servant girl, and that as she had. lived with them some
time since, and had also been treated very cruelly by them, she
wished to know if her evidence would be of any use in further-
ing the ends of justice.

I I am aware that in this particular case she will be of no
service, but at the trial, as some proof of the general treat-
ment of their servants, perhaps her evidence might be of some
importance.

' I trust you will excuse the trouble I em giving you, even
to read this, but trusting that the gross nature of the case of
those people will be a sufficient apology,

' I am, dear Sir, yours very truly,

' F. Tierhukst, Surgeon.
' The girl's name is Mary A. Stokes, 14 Bourne street,
Hastings.'" — Observer, December 23c?, 1850.

The following commentary on these proceedings was
made by the editor of the paper in which they were
published :

"THE CASE OF MR. SLOANS.

Mr. Sloane was again before the police magistrate at Guild-
hall, on Friday last, on the charge of cruelty to his servant,
Jane Wilbred. It was a re-examination for the purpose of
including Mrs. Sloane in the preliminary proceedings, but that
lady did not appear. Indeed it was stated, substantially, by
her husband's legal adviser, that she did not intend to surren-
der until the case was sent for trial, in order to avoid public
exposure. The facts, in so far as they transpired at that re-
examination, will be found elsewhere ; but though there was
little that is new elicited, that little was not without its own
degree of painful interest, and coupled with the other circum-
stances that have been sworn to, it cannot be concealed that
its tenor is extremely prejudicial to the accused parties.

346

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

The additional evidence of Jane Wilbred was to this effect,
viz. : that not only was she beaten by Mr. and Mrs. Sloane
for wearing her shift sleeves over her arms and shoulders of a
morning in cold weather, but that she was actually compelled
by her mistress to ' go about the house,' naked from the waist
upwards, 'in the presence of her master,' and of a young per-
son named Louisa Devaux, who lived ' in chambers' along with
them ; and that she was beaten by master as well as mistress,
if she did not do her work in that exposed condition. Further
she deposed, touching the disgusting act which she alleges Mr.
and Mrs. Sloane compelled her to perform, and to which public
attention has been so painfully directed

These ' additional facts' aggravate very materially the case
as against the accused parties, and place Mr. Sloane and his
wife in a position by no means free from great danger. Of
course, statements made in a direct examination, such as the
girl was subjected to, are liable to implication on cross-exami-
nation ; and, generally speaking, there are few of them that
cannot in some sort be modified, if not changed, by that search-
ing procedure. Upon the first examination of Jane Wilbred,
there was no cross-examination, because her physical condition
was too much reduced to permit it, and the counsel for the
accused voluntarily and humanely waived his right ; but since
then there have been two further 'examinations in chief of the
girl — one on last Saturday week, and one on the following
Friday; and though Jane Wilbred has regained sufficient
bodily strength to submit to the ordeal of the severest cross-
examination, no cross-examination was even attempted upon
either occasion. To deduce any inference of the guilt or in-
nocence of the accused from this omission on their parts to
exercise an undoubted right, which, in the circumstances they
are placed in, must also be held to be an imperative duty,
would be manifestly unjust ; but it cannot be concealed, because
it is patent to the understanding of all persons, that the absti-
nence of their counsel from this course, on Saturday, and his
absence from the court on the following Friday, are facts by
no means calculated to improve — on the contrary, they are
eminently calculated to damage — their legal position.

Furthermore, the fact that Louisa Devaux, who was, accord-
ing to the testimony of Jane Wilbred, constantly present at
all these proceeding, has not been produced to repel the evi-
dence of the girl, will be held as by no means favorable to the
case of Mr. and Mrs. Sloane. Although there is no direct
statement to that effect in the evidence of Jane Wilbred, yet it

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

347

is inferentially certain that Louisa Devaux was a witness of
her treatment by the accused parties ; seeing that it would be
utterly impossible there could be concealment of any kind
within the compass of the three comparatively small rooms, in
which all four lived together ; these rooms opening into each
other, be it remembered, and being only separated by wainscot
partitions, through which the slightest sound could be heard.

Mr. Sloane and Mrs. Sloane may be perfectly innocent in the
matter, as already supposed ; they may be the victims of a degree
of malicious cunning which is absolutely inconceivable ; but sup-
posing the contrary to be the case, to talk of Torquemada and
the horrors of the Inquisition, after the statement of the child
Jane Wilbred, is to talk without data for a comparison. Such
a case, in fact, has never before been imagined ; and if it be
well founded, it will perhaps more than any other that is
known, justify the profound observation of the philosopher —
1 Truth is strange — stranger than fiction.' " — Observer, Dec.
23d, 1850.

You will observe what the editor says — to the effect
that Mr. and Mrs. Sloane " may be perfectly innocent in
the matter." But it was, in the end, shown that they
were not innocent in the matter. The editor's inferences,
in the event of their guilt, are therefore to be drawn :
viz., that the horrors of the Inquisition were without data
for a comparison.

For the present, I must take leave of the subject, and
of you, with the assurance that I remain, sir,

Respectfully,

Yr. obt. servt.,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Gra., U. S. of America.

* They both pleaded guilty to all the charges against them, except
that of furnishing insufficient food to the girl. — At the Central Criminal
Court, February bth, 1851.

348 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

LETTER XXXVI.

CRUELTY TO A " SMALL SERVANT;" OR, THE (t MARCHIONESS "

DUPLICATED QUERE : HAVE SAMPSON AND SALLY BRASS

TRANSFERRED THEIR ABODE TO GREAT CARTER LANE, DOC-
TOR'S COMMONS BUCK ATTENDS AN INVESTIGATION, IN

WHICH IT IS SUGGESTED THAT MR. RICHARD SWIVELLER
MAY HAVE BEEN INTERESTED — HE (BUCK) DISCOURSES WITH
A BENEVOLENT ENGLISHMAN UPON THE ADVANTAGES OP
THE RELATION OF MASTER AND SLAVE IN GEORGIA OVER
THAT OF MASTER AND SERVANT IN ENGLAND.

London, April 14th, 1854.

Dear Major : — If you deem the infamous case of the
Sloanes, with which I made you acquainted in my last,
exceptional in its intensity of atrocity, you may be right.
But you may rest assured that treatment of servants
similar to this, though not so exceedingly disgusting and
depraved, is not unusual in this country ; and that Mr.
Dickens drew from nature when he sketched his portraits
of Sally Brass and her " small servant." If you are not
already convinced of this, you must be by the case which
I next furnish you. It is so remarkable a likeness, that
it is almost impossible to resist the impression that Samp-
son and Sally Brass, since Mr. Dickens lost sight of them,
have ceased to prowl about " the inmost recesses of St.
Giles," and instead of returning to Bevis Marks, and the
attorney's office (but still hanging on to the skirts of the
law), have " settled down " in No. 14, Great Carter Lane,
Doctors Commons, and have managed to find another
" Marchioness."

'ALLEGED CRUELTY TO A SERVANT.

At Guildhall, on Tuesday, Mary Anne Targett, aged seven-
teen, was charged on remand before Alderman Hooper with
stealing a piece of bread, value twopence, the property of a

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

349

policeman. Owing to allegations respecting: the treatment of
the girl in the service of Mr. and Mrs. Fells, of 14, Great
Carter-lane, Doctor's Commons, the following facts were
elicited: — Fanny Targett, of 8, Union-court, Holborn, said
that the prisoner was her illegitimate daughter, and that she
had complained of want of food and of being beaten severely
with a rolling-pin. Owing to what prisoner said of witness
to Mrs. Fells, witness was forbidden the house, and saw the
prisoner but twice since December. The prisoner, in her mis-
tress' presence, denied that she had complained to witness of
the want of food, and said that witness was a liar. — Justinia
Frances, matron of Giltspur-street, said, that on prisoner's
admission there were bruises on her right side, and back, and
shoulders, as from a stick, and on her hip from a kick which
she said her master had given her. Her hands indicated hard
wrork. Her knuckles were swollen, and the joint of one finger,
on her left hand, was nearly worn off. — Alderman Hooper said
that this was the first case that had come before him under
the 14th Yict., passed in consequence of Sloane's case. — Mary
Ann Targett was put in the box, and said she was two years
with Mr. and Mrs. Fells. She had three meals a day, some-
times four, and sometimes but two. She had three slices of
bread and dripping for breakfast, one slice for supper, bread
and meat for dinner, but never enough. On Wednesday last,
on taking up some meat for dinner, her master said, ' Do you
see that V and then he said, ' That is all you will have,' mean-
ing that the sight of the meat was sufficient. She got no
dinner that day. She then described various beatings as
having been given by Mr. and Mrs. Fells, and said that she
was so hungry at times that she was glad to get bread any-
where, and on discovering the policeman's safe she took the
bread out of it. — Mr. Fells not being in court, the alderman
said that Mrs. Fells might now question the girl. — Mrs. Fells
then questioned her as to several alleged thefts, which the girl
denied, and Mrs. Fells then stated that so far from the girl
being hard worked she was not called from the kitchen more
than once in seven hours. She had on several occasions when
the girl robbed her, given her a choice of three things, viz.,
to send her home, to give her a good beating, or to give her in
charge ; and she preferred the beating. — The case was then
remanded." — Observer, September 1st, 1851.

After reading the above, it seems almost certain that
those who were in the Guildhall on that day, if they had
30

350

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

looked sharply about them, might have detected Mr.
Richard Swiveller among the audience — that Kit Nub-
bles must have been close at hand, and old Mr. Garland,
and the pony at the door. Even now, I am not sure
whether the following occurred in Bevis Marks, or Great
Carter Lane.

" ' Do you see this ¥ said Miss Sally, slicing off about
two square-inches of cold mutton, after all this prepara-
tion, and holding it out on the point of the fork.

The small servant looked hard enough at it with her
hungry eyes to see every shred of it, small as it was, and
answered, ''Yes.'

' Then don't you ever go and say,' retorted Miss Sally,
1 that you hadn't meat here. There; eat it up.'

This was soon done. 1 Now, do you want any more Y
said Miss Sally.

The hungry creature answered with a faint 1 No.' They
were evidently going through an established form.

' You have been helped once to meat,' said Miss Sally,
summing up the facts, ' you have had as much as you can
eat, you're asked if you want any more, and you answer
1 No.' There ; don't you ever go and say you were allow-
anced, mind that.' "

There was an inmate of the house where I boarded,
who was in some way connected with the service of the
officials at Guildhall. I never precisely understood the
nature of his duties, nor does it matter. Suffice it to say
that we became very well acquainted ; and one day, after
the first remand of the girl Targett, he mentioned the
case, and the charges which were made against her em-
ployers. I was interested, and hinted my wish to be pre-
sent when the girl was again brought before the court.
He promised to give me notice of this, if possible, and he
did so ; but I was prevented by some cause from being
present. Buck, to whom I mentioned the circumstance,
asked to go, and was permitted. The examination was
that I have already given you ; but that night Buck made
to me a faithful report of what occurred, which I have
daffiierreotyped for your amusement, and will send you.

" Marster," said he, u I went to the court-house to-day,
you know, sir, to see that gal tried."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

351

"Ah, yes. I intended to ask you about it/' said I.

Buck. " Mr. B got me in nicely, sir, and I seed

and heerd everything. They called it a trial of the gal,
sir ; but, ef you'll bleeve my racket, hit was more of a
trial of her marster and mistress. The mother of the gal
was made a evidence first, sir, and she swored that the
gal was her chile, but was sort of a — of a — what do you
call urn, sir ? — a sort of a woods-colt, sir, an that the gal
come an told her how she was starved, an how they beat
her with a great big flour-pin, all over her carcass, sir ;
an that, when she went to complain to the mistress of the
gal about them doins to her darter, the* gal was so skaard,
she jest up an called her own mother a liar, sir, an said ,
she never told her no sich thing.

Then come up another evidence, — a lady, sir, what kept
the poor-house whar the gal was tuk to, an she swored
that, when the gal come thar, she was all covered with
wounds, sir ; an the gal told her, said she, that her mars-
ter an mistress done it — that her hands was all crippled,
an one on her fingers had a jint clean wored away. When
I heerd this, I felt so sorry for the gal, Marster, I didn't
know what to do ; an so, sir, says I, out loud, 'fore I
knowed what I was about, says I, ' Frost-bit,' says I.
With that, sir, the beagle, he rushed towards me "

Myself. 11 Beadle ! What was a beadle doing there ?"

Back. " Leastwise a pleeceman, sir ; an his consequence
made him look so big, sir, tell I thought 'bout that beagle
that we see at St. Paul's, thar. An so, as I was tellin on
you, Marster, the pleeceman said, says he, ' Silence !'
Jest then, sir, I was tuk with sich a admiration of the
bald head of a ole gen'l'man that stood by the side of an
a little before me, sir, that the officer didn't spect me, I
think, an couldn't 'zackly tell whar the interruption come
from. Well, sir, then they put up the gal herself as a
evidence, an that poor crittur's tale, Marster, would a
melted a heart o' stone. She said she was two years with
them Fellses — her marster an mistress — that sometimes
she had vittels but two times a day, that when she got
some supper hit was only one slice of bread, that she got
some meat only once a day, — that was at dinner, — but
that she never had enough to eat ; that last Wednesday,

352

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

for her dinner, her marster tuk up a piece of meat an

showed it to her, an said "

Myself. [Suiting the action to the word.] " Do you see

this r

Buck. [Surprised into indiscretion.] "The dickens,
Marster ! How did you know it ?"

Myself. " You are right, Buck. The Dickens accounts
for the how."

Buck. "Anan, sir ! Somebody that was thar told you,
Marster."

Myself. " Yes, some one told me who was there in spi-
rit, Buck — there, by his genius, before it happened."
Buck. "My Lord!"

Myself. " Only he said that it was Sally, and not
Sampson, who held up the meat, and showed it to the
small servant."

Buck. " Well, ef hit was so, hit was onbeknowns to
me. I won't say the gal didn't say so, ef that genTman's
sperit says she did. But I onderstood her to say that hit
was her marster, sir, an I didn't hear her say ef his name
was Samson — hit mought a been ; only I hope that her
mistress wasn't named Sally, becase that's the name of
my wife, sir, you know ; an I should hate mightily for
her to have the same name with that 'oman."

Myself. " Gro on with your story ; though I suppose I
can tell you what followed. Of course, when he gave her
the little scrap of meat, he said, ' There ; eat it up, and
don't you ever go and say you haven't meat here."

Buck. " No, sir ! The sperit was out 'bout that cir-
cumstance, sartain. He never gin her the meat, sir, at
all. He jest showed it to her, Marster, an made hei
mouth water for it bad, an then never gin her none."

Myself. " Well, I suppose I am wrong, and the truth
here again is stranger than fiction. Go on."

Buck. " Let me see — whar was I ? Oh ! the gal said
when her marster showed her the meat, sir, says she, he
gin her no dinner, says she, an she was almost starved.
Then she said, says she, her marster an mistress sorter
tuk it by turns, an thrashed an beat her constant ; an
bomby she growed so monstrous hongry that she tuk
bread any whar she could find it, says she ; an when she

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

353

seed the pleeceman's bread, she couldn't help takin hit,
sir. 'Marster, I couldn't stand it no longer — I was so
sorry for the poor starvin child, I didn't think 'bout her
sin, an I couldn't help from cryin, Marster. I couldn't
do it, sir. I'm not ashamed to say, sir, I felt like my
heart would break with pity for the poor thing. I got
right out of that room, Marster, quick as I could. How-
beever, 'fore I got out, I heerd the gal's mistress say as
how what the gal said wasn't so, cepin some of the beat-
ins, says she. But, Marster, she couldn't deny them,
becase thar was the wounds what that materon spoke of ; an
the gal's looks told the truth as to the rest, ef she didn't.

As I was turnin to go out of the room, Marster, I felt
somebody pat me saftly on the shoulder, sir ; an when I
looked round, who should it be but the same ole genTman
whose bald head I stared at so when that constable was
sarchin for me. He was a mighty good-natured lookin
ole genTman, with specs on "

Mi/self. 11 1 think I know him. He was a little fat
man, wasn't he, with a club-foot? Wasn't his name
Garland?"

Buck. " ISTot as I knows on, Marster ; but I didn't
heer his name, an I didn't see any club-foot, sir ; though
there mought a been. Did that sperit tell you so, sir?"

Myself. "Ah ! never mind. I suppose I was mistaken.
Go on, Buck."

Buck. " Well, the ole genTman follered me out an
patted me on the shoulder agin, jest as my mammy used
to do, Marster, an he said, says he, ' My good man, you
seem to be very sorry for that poor gal, an so am I,' says
he. ' Is she anything to you — do you know her ?'

' Never sot eyes on her 'fore, Marster,' says I, jest so.
' I don't know nuthin 'bout her, sir. I was jest sorry for
her,' says I, 'as I would be for any poor crittur that haint
got enough to eat,' says I, ' an is 'bused an momicked up
so badly.' *

'Ah ! that was very bad an sad, says he ; an the ole
genTman's eyes* looked very watery, Marster — jest for
all the world like he 'ud cry at the drap of a hat. ' But
you're a black man,' says he, ' an you call me, that you
30* x

354

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

never seed afore, "Marater/" says he; ' from which I
infer you have been a slave,' says he. 'Am I right?'

'Adzackly so, Marster ; an I is yet, thank God !' says I,
jest so.

The ole gen'l'man, he opened them big kind eyes of
hisen mighty wide at that, an says, says he, 'What is this
I hear ? You're a slave ? Wkar is your marster ?' says
he.

'At No. — , in the Strand, sir,' says I. He is a gen'l'-
man from Georgy, sir; Dr. Jones is his name, sir,' says I.
1 Praps you've heern of him,' says I. ' He come out here
for his health, an to show a new plough at the Exerbishun,'
says I ; 'an I come along to take care of him, sir,' says I.

Then he axed me somehow so, Marster — ' How comes
it,' says he, ' that you, bein you're a slave, an accustomed,
I serpose, to the cruel treatment slaves receive from their
marsters, have been so easily teched by this gal's wrongs ?'
says he.

' Fact is, Marster,' says I, ' I spose, ef I was usen to
the like, I wouldn't a minded it much,' says I; 'an it's
becase I never seed nor heerd the like, in all my born
days, that I was so powerful sorry for the gal,' says I,
jest so.

'What!' says he; 'what! do you mean to say the
slaveholders don't treat their slaves with cruelty in Arne-
riky ?' says he.

'Marster,' says I, 'ef you was to see a cripple, sir,
what went upon crutches, take and break his crutches,
what he depended upon to git 'long with,' says I,
' wouldn't you say he was crazy, or a natral fool one ?'
says I, jest so.

' Well, I think hit's likely, my man, that I should make
some sich reflecshun,' says he.

'Adzackly, Marster,' says I; 'an yit you think the
slaveholders is fool enough to 'buse an injure thar
niggers, what they depends upon to git along with,' says
I. ' Besides, Marster, I have allers heern that thar was
a law in my country to perwent ill-treatment and cruelty
to the slaves ; though sometimes I've heern the white folks
say thar wasn't much use for it, so far as the owners was
consarned.* An ef you could jest see how fast our little

* Soo A pp.. B.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

3u5

niggers increase, Marster, an how many on 'urn grows up, 4
an how many gits to be powerful old; you wouldn't bleeve
that any on 'um, old or young, was 'bused or bad treated
much,' says I.*

' But do they allers supply 'um with sufficient food an
clothing, my man ?' says he.

\ Marster,' says I, ' spose them crutches what the crip-
ple goes on was two animils; do you think,' says I, 'the
owner would feed 'um well, ef he could 'ford it, so they
could go 'long smartly with him? or do you think he
would starve 'um, tell they was weak an sickly, like that
poor gal we been seein ?' says I, jest so.

' Why,' says he, laffin, 1 1 think hit's likely, my man,
that he would keep them substute legs of hisen, ef he
could, in pretty good marchin order,' says he. ' But
come,' says he, ' I think I see the rift of your answer,'
says he "

Myself. " Drift, Buck ; drift of your answer was what
he said, I suppose."

Buck. "Well, drift or rift; whatever it was, sir, I
spose he meant that I was 'bout right, sir, an so he went
on to say, ' Hit is sensible/ says he, ■ an sartainly seems
reasonable. But hit is very much opposed to what we
read an hear on the subject,' says he. 'Let us come to
the point a little closer/' says he, 1 an tell me ef you know
how much food is given to a slave in the cotton States, as
his daily supply, an how much clothing every year/ savs
he.

' We lives on a cotton plantation, Marster/ says I,
1 when at home, an I know adzackly what the slaves git,
becase I gives out the 'lowances myself, sir, for my mistress
sometimes, an the 'lowance everywhar in our neighborhood
is 'bout the same,' says I. ' Our plantation people, sir/ says
I, ' gits thar 'lowance onct a week, every Saturday night.
They gits every week three pounds an a half of bacon,' says
I, 1 an one peck o' meal (what I have larnt, since I been
here, you call Indian-corn meal, or flour), the run of the
turnip-patch, or sometimes peas, to cook with their bacon,
ef they wants to, an sometimes cabbages, or collards, or
other vegetables. In roastin-ear time,' says I, (' that's

* See App., K. Also. App., F.

356

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

when the corn is ripenin, Marster,' says I,) ' the)7 gits as
many roastin ears as they wants. The young uns have
milk, an sometimes all git taters — that's sweet taters,
Marster,' says I. ' Ef fresh beef is gin out, more by two
pounds for one is give for the 'lowance,' says I. ' Sometimes
salt fish is gin out in place of the meat, in 'bout the same
perportion,' says I. ' But ginerly, bacon is the stand-
by,' says I ; 1 though frequently merlasses is put in place
of some of the meat — 'bout a pint for a pound,' says I.*
1 The house-sarvants,' says I, ■ has the same what the
people in the gret-house has,' says I; 'but all has a
plenty, Marster, so fur as I know. Thar's this day more
bread an meat 'bout my cabin, whar my young uns has
put it tell they git hongry, than that poor gal et in a
week,' says L 'Poor thing!' says I; 'I wish she had
some on it now. As for clothes, Marster, the plantation
folks ginerly gits two suits — more on 'um, ef them wars
out. One suit of cotton stuff for summer, an one of
mixed woolen for winter. Then they gits - two cotton
shirts, an sometimes one flannel shirt, one hat, two pair
of shoes, — some gives one, but haves 'um cobbled an kep
good, — an a blanket every other year. The women some-
times gits bed-clothin besides.' f

' How many hours in the day is the slaves required to
work, my man ?' says lie. J

1 No set time, adzackly, Marster,' says I. 1 In some
places they has tasks sot for 'um,' says I. ' The smart
ones ginerly gits through thar tasks tolerable yearly ;
some on 'um, in summer, does it two or three hours by
sun. The slow ones, or the lazy,' says I, * is later, in
course,' says I. ' But the task is sot 'cordin to the age
an strength of the hand, Marster,' says I, jest so. 1 When
they gits through thar task, then they has time to work
in thar own crap,' says I; 'which all on 'um that aint
good for nuthin ginerly has ground gin to 'um for thar
craps by thar boss,' says I.§

' By who, my man ?' says the ole genTman.

* Sec App., D, \\ 5, 27, 47, 66, 88, 00.
f See App., D., for clothing furnished slaves.
% Sec App., D| 16, 87, 67, 73, 80, 102
\ Sec App., D., 28, 27, 47.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

357

'By the marster or the manager, sir,' says I ; 'an they
kin make a little crap for tharselves, ef they choose,' says
I 'But in our parts, ginerly,' says I, 'we don't have
no tasks. We goes to work 'bout good daylight — 'bout
same time everybody goes in the morning. We works
till' breakfast-time, then stops for breakfast for 'bout half
a hour,' or sich a matter,' says L 'Then we goes out,
says I, an works tell 'bout twelve. Then we comes in, an
sich of us as is workin animils feeds 'urn, an we eats our
dinners, an rests tell 'bout two — in some places they rests
only tell 'bout half-past one,' says I. ' Then we goes out
an works tell 'bout dusk. Most everybody,' says I, ' 'lows
some time on Saturday (whar they don't set tasks), for
the hands who is got craps of their own to work 'urn,'
says L

'Is no work required of the slaves at night ?' says the
ole gen'l'man.

'No, Marster,' says I; ' cepin sometimes with the
hands that tends the gin. When thar's a press of work,
they may have to work into the night a little in the wTinter
time; but taint ginerly so.'

' But do marsters ginerly treat thar slaves accordin'
to the very reasonable an humane system you have been
describin ?' says he.

' Yes, Marster — leastwise, it's a terrerble bad man that
don't do it, sir ; an that's the ricommendation all his
nabers gives him, sartain,' says I, jest so.

' How 'bout marriage, my man?' says the ole gen'l'man;
' how 'bout the sanctity of marriage — the want of that
religious tie among the sexes, an the separation of fami-
lies ?' says he.

' Well, Marster,' says I, ' thar's reglar marriages 'mong
us slaves ; an we lives together, an brings up our famblies,
jest like white people an Christians. Our marsters likes
to git up marriages 'mong us,' says I, ' an they don't like
no loose livin an bad gwine on 'mong thar sarvants,' says
I — ' becase why, Marster ? Becase childern don't come
of that sort o' thing, Marster ; an thar's mighty apt to be
childern whar's thar's marriages,' says I, jest so ; ' an
the more little niggers our marsters has, sir,' says I, ' the
more richer they gits to be, an the more they has for thar

358

THE SLAVEHOLDEE ABEOAD ; OE,

childern who is to come arter them/ says L ' Besides,'
says I, ' when the sarvants is married, it keeps 'urn steady
at home, or at thar wife's house ; an they keeps more fitter
for work, an more healthier, an so they does more work,
an saves doctors' bills, you know,' says I. ' So, ef I kin
lead you into the light of hit rightly, Marster,' says I,
' you will see how our marsters' intrust makes urn encou-
rage marrying 'mong thar sarvants,' says I, jest so.*
' "Who marries 'um ?' says he.

' Sometimes the preacher,' says I, ' sometimes the mars-
ter or the mistress,' says I. ' I've heerd my marster say,'
says I, ' that hit wasn't done zackly 'cordin to Hoyle,'
says I, jest so; 'but still, ef a lawyer could drive his
buggy through hit, says my marster,' says I, 1 hit's all
right in the sight of God — hit's a religious tie, says he.
An so our marsters tries to keep us together, sir,' says I,
'an teeches us to bring up our famblies decently,' says I.

'Ah ! but you are liable to be separated at any time,'
says the ole gen'l'man.

'Well, Marster, there's no deny in that,' says I. 'How-
beever, the white people ginerly is powerful strong sot
agin separatin famblies. f Still, Marster, I know some-
times, specially when they's sold for debt, famblies gits
separated. But, in my soul, I don't bleeve, Marster, that
they gits any more separated than 'mong the poor suf-
ferin workin people of this country, ef as much,' says I,
jest so.

Jest then, Marster, the crowd come out of the house,
an me an the ole gen'l'man got parted."

It is time, Major, that I had parted from this long let-
ter, and that I had subscribed myself,
Bespectfully,

Yr. obt. servt. and cousin,

B. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Bineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

* See A pp., C, ?24.

f See App., 61 28, 45, G4, 82, 94, 111. Also, App., K., \ 2.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

359

LETTER XXXVII.

MURDER OF A SERVANT BY HER MASTER AT THRANDESTON

ASSAULT BY A MILITARY OFFICER ON HIS FEMALE SER-
VANT— A FIRST-CLASS HAND IN A FIRST-RATE MILLINER'S.

London, April 18th, 1854.

Dear Major: — Continuing the subject of the treat-
ment, by the English people, of their servants, I mention
that in the year 1852 a man was tried and convicted, at
Bury St. Edmunds, for the murder of his servant. I send
you a succinct report of the case :

"MURDER AT THRANDESTON.

At Bury St. Edmunds, on Wednesday, John Mickleburgh,
aged forty-two, was indicted for the wilful murder of Mary
Baker, at Thrandeston, on the 1st of August last. The de-
ceased, Mary Baker, was the servant of the prisoner, who is a
small freeholder and occupier of land at Thrandeston. On
the 31st of July last the village fair took place, and, by the
consent of Mrs. Mickleburgh, Mary Baker went to the fair,
where she met a lover, named William Boorman, her sister
Clara French, and her sister's husband. While they were at
the fair the prisoner joined them and treated them to two half-
pints of wine ; and, after asking Mary Baker when she was to
go home, and learning that she was to go back by half-past
nine, told Mrs. French to ask her to go home by nine o'clock,
as he wished to see her in the Low Meadow. No notice of
this was taken by Mary Baker, who went about to several
places of amusement. At length Mary Baker and Bootman
entered a public house and sat down in a crowded room, when
the prisoner, without any warning or apparent motive, rushed
into the room and stabbed Mary Baker in the right side. He
was immediately seized and deprived of the weapon, while the
poor girl was led up stairs, and a medical man and a police
officer was called in. When the policeman came the prisoner
avowed that he had stabbed the girl intentionally for the sake

360

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

of revenge, and that he had always ' done as he pleased with
her,' and that if she got well and did not accede to his pro-
posals he would shoot her. Subsequently, in the station-house,
he stated that ' he hoped she would die ; that he had bought
the knife on purpose to stab her.' The poor girl died of the
wound on the following day. — The defence set up was insanity,
but this did not succeed, and the prisoner was convicted and
sentenced to undergo the punishment of death." — Observer,
March 29//i, 1852.

According to this ruffian's own account, you will per-
ceive that he had " always done as he pleased " with his
servant ; and when his wishes and his will are thwarted
by her, he murders her.

That you may see how gentlemen sometimes treat their
servants here, I send you the following account of the
conduct of a captain in the British army to his house-
maid. He was convicted and punished for the assault
before a magistrate of the city. The circumstances were
regarded as very disgraceful, and they serve to exemplify
the folly of such people undertaking to lecture us upon
the treatment of our slaves.

"ASSAULT BY A MILITARY OFFICER ON HIS FEMALE SERVANT.

At the Alarylebone Court, on Thursday, Captain Henry
Hugh Clayton, residing at No. 1, Woodfield-terrace, Harrow-
road, was charged on a warrant before Mr. Long, with having
assaulted Eliza Remington, about twenty-six years old, his
housemaid. The complainant said that on the 24th of Novem-
ber last, the Captain made overtures to her of an improper
nature, which she repulsed. On the afternoon of the same
day, while she was cleaning the fire-grate in her bed-room, he
came up, saying he was going to kiss her, and on her telling
him she could not suffer him to do anything of the kind, he
said . . ' I have been in the habit of doing it

with all my servants, and why can't you and I agree.' She
told him she could not think of agreeing to his scandalous and
offensive proposal, when he patted her on the shoulder, and,
after ringing the bell, said if she did not accede to his wishes,
ho should kick her down stairs. She pushed past him and
went below, declaring she would quit the house the same day.
Mr. Long said ' Yon have summoned Captain Clayton for

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

361

assaulting you — let me know what you have to say about that.
The complainant replied, that in the afternoon, while in her
bed-room, and in the act of packing her clothes. Captain Clay-
ton came in and said she should not go till the next day. lie
then patted her on the shoulder and used improper language,
and, as she did iiot like his talk, she managed to get away
from him and ran down stairs, after experiencing some diffi-
culty in passing him, and, in the afternoon, while she was in
her bed-room in the act of preparing to get her things together,
he knocked at the door, which she opened, when he flew at
her drawers, and said she should not quit till the next day.
She said she had made up her mind to go instantly, when he
rang the bell, and she rushed down stairs into the kitchen.
The Captain told the cook that she had corrupted her, and
he then thrashed her with a cane with such violence that the
marks were upon her person for several clays. He had re-
peatedly made her improper solicitations, and she had on
every occasion repulsed him.

Mr. Long (to defendant) : "What answer have you to this ?

Defendant : She made some improper and insolent remark
as a servant, and I gave her a slight tap with a cane.

Mr. Long : What do you say respecting the indecent over-
tures made by you to her ?

Defendant said the matter had happened so long ago that
he really could not recollect anything about it. All he did
know was, that the assault with the cane was very slight, and
that the complainant, before he assaulted her, had made use
of improper and impertinent words.

Mr. Long : The assault has been proved, and, as you do
not deny it, for that I shall fine you 50s. and costs.

Captain Clayton (pulling out a well filled purse) : Did you
say £50 ?

Mr. Fell (the chief clerk) : The penalty is not £50, but 50s.
Captain Clayton : Oh, very well.

The penalty and costs were then paid." — Observer, Jan.
31s/, 1853.

In what I have furnished, Major, you have illustrations
of the manner in which servants are sometimes treated
by their employers in this country, so far as concerns
wrongs to their persons, and injuries from positive vio-
lence. But this is the very lightest form in which inhu-
manity to servants and laborers manifests itself. More
of sorrow and suffering, and many more deaths, are
31

362

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABBOAD ; OR,

caused by the slow and incessant wear and tear of the
system of labor adopted among this people. That system
exhibits its revolting features in bolder outline at those
places where women only are employed. I can readily
furnish you with examples of the unnatural strain which
is thus put upon all the laboring classes, male and female,
in this country. It is more convenient for me just now
to refer to the labor of women; and I do so by calling
your attention to the following extract :

"A FIRST CLASS HAND, IN A ' FIRST RATE MILLINER^.'
'The short but simple annals of the poor.' — Gray.

I have been engaged in this business for fourteen years, at
different ' first class houses,' and, as my heahh is now suffering
from the 'late hour system,' I have been prevailed upon by
this medium to give that information which experience has
taught me, in the hope that some enterprising and humane in-
dividuals-will exert themselves to break the chains of that sla-
very under which so many thousands of their countrywomen
are bound.

I will now speak of a recent engagement of mine, and which
in the 'one' case will illustrate the majority of the 'West-end
houses.' I held the position of what is called ' first hand,' and
had twelve young people under me. The season commenced
about the middle of March. We breakfasted at six, A. M.,
which was not allowed to occupy more than a quarter of an
hour. The hard work of the day begun immediately. At
eleven o'clock a small piece of dry bread was brought to each
as luncheou. At that hour the young people would often ask
my permission to send for a glass of beer, but this was strictly
prohibited by the principals, as they insisted that it caused a
drowsiness, and so retarded the work. At one o'clock the
dinner bell rang, which repast consisted of a hot joint twice
in the week, and cold meat the remaining five days, no pud-
ding, and a glass of toast and water to drink. To this meal
twenty minutes were given. Work again till the five o'clock
summons for tea, which occupied fifteen minutes. Again to
work till called to supper at nine, which also occupied fifteen
minutes, which consisted of bread, dry cheese, and a glass of
beer. All again returned to stitch, stitch, till one, two, or
three in the morning, according to the business, while Satur-
day night was being anticipated all the week, because then no

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

one would work after twelve. With this one night's exception,
all the rest we had for three weeks, from the end of May, to
the middle of June, was from three till six, while two nights
during that time we never lay down. I leave your readers to
imagine the spectral countenances of us all. I shudder my-
self when I recall the picture.

At midnight I very frequently let all put down their work
to doze for ten minutes, while, with my watch on the table, I
kept guard ; and, about one, each one received a cup of strong
tea — as the principals said — ' in case we. should feel sleepy, to
arouse all to work.' In what state of health could July, the
termination of the season, be expected to find us poor ' Eng-
lish slaves V The sequel is easily told. "Each one, instead of
going to enjoy a little recreation, went home to lie upon a sick
bed. For myself, I was attacked with serious illness, which
laid me up for three months, and has greatly impaired my con-
stitution.

Now, for this cruel inhuman treatment of womankind, who
in dress-making houses toil harder than any laborer in the
brick-field, there is one very simple remedy — employing a
proper number of hands to do the work. There are always
plenty seeking employment, but it is from the sordid love of
gain that those already engaged may work themselves into
their coffins, in order that their employer's cash-boxes may be
the more speedily filled. With your permission, I will here
give a few figures.

I have said that in mine, 'the dressmaking workroom,' there
were twelve besides myself. There were also seven in the
'millinery room,' and one in the show rooms. Out of these
twenty-one young persons the following received salaries :
First-hand dressmaker, £40 ; first-hand milliner, £40 ; second-
hand dressmaker, £14 ; second-hand milliner, £24 ; sales-
woman, £20 ; while all the rest had paid to their employers
good premiums to learn the business. Now, every lady who
patronizes either Bond street or its immediate neighborhood,
will at once see that the prices they pay for their goods will
amply compensate the person whom they employ to remunerate
a sufficient number of people to do their work. Would that
such ladies would at once come boldly forward and say they
will bestow their patronage on none who permit working more
than twelve hours a day, and even that is longer than any one
class of men work. The 'Association' in Clifford street has
done all it could to curtail the hours of labor, but even the

304

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

houses which it recommends deem from 7 A. M. to 10 P. M.
1 easy hours.'

I have lately made an application to one of these for an en-
gagement, and upon my stating that my health would no longer
permit my sitting 'long hours,' I was answered, 'Oh, mine are
very easy, from 7 in the morning till 10 at night.' I knew,
however, that my altered health will not admit of even these
' easy hours ;' so I declined it. Perhaps many will say that the
system I have spoken of is now rarely adopted. This I posi-
tively contradict, as I can prove that it is the general system
in 'West-end houses ;' while the Drawing-rooms, State Balls,
and fashionable dejeuners and concerts are pending, while per-
haps one or two large trousseaux are in hand at the same
time."— Observer, March mh, 1853.

Look at this statement, Major, and compare the condi-
tion of these laboring women, as there set forth, with
that of the slaves among us, — who are the hardest driven,
— and you will find the contrast immensely in favor of
the latter. These poor women, it seems, work from six
in the morning until past midnight — a continuance of
labor for more than eighteen hours, with intervals for
meals altogether amounting to but little more than one
hour. Twelve or thirteen hours, at most, in summer
time, and ten or eleven hours in winter, constitute, as you
know, the daily labor period for our slaves, with intervals
for meals and rest, amounting to about two hours.* In
addition to this, our slaves have several advantages over
these English laborers. First, in the quantity of healthy
food supplied, with the time to eat and digest it. Se-
condly, in a period for natural rest and repose at night.
Thirdly, in a freedom from cares and anxieties, and from
the serious illness which may be consequent thereon, and
the physician's bills which may result from such sickness.
Fourthly, there is the advantage of a sturdy constitution,
developed by such treatment, instead of the feebleness
and proneness to disease which result to these poor Eng-
lishwomen from being overtasked and underfed. And
lastly, there is the certainty of a home, and a comfortable
support on which to fall back, should feebleness of con-
stitution, from disease or old age, permanently ensue.
* See App., D.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

3G5

A very sensible article on this subject, in the " London
Times," appeared shortly after the date of the above ex-
tract, a portion of which I enclose to you, as it aids us
somewhat in the effort to ascertain who the slave is, and
what is the slave's condition in this country :

" ENGLISH SEAMSTRESS SLAVERY.

"What is slavery ? 'A slave,' says Dr. Noah Webster in his
dictionary published at New York, 'is a person wholly subject
to the will of another; one who has no will of his own, but
whose person and services are wholly under the will of another.'
The learned lexicographer — and surely at New York men
should be acquainted with the right of the subject — proceeds
to inform us that in the early ages of the world prisoners of
war were considered and treated as slaves 1 The slaves of
modern times,' he adds, 1 are generally purchased like horses
or oxen.' Our own Dr. Johnson defines a slave as being one
'mancipated to a master, not a freeman, a dependant, one who
has lost the power of resistance.' Mr. Charles Richardson, on
the other hand, considers a slave as a person ' who is reduced
to captivity, to servitude, to bondage ; who is bound or com-
pelled to serve, labor, or toil for another.' There is always
some little trouble about a definition, and probably it requires
the cobbling and filling of more than one generation to pro-
duce anything like a perfect one. There are, however, certain
conditions of life which any lexicographer would endeavor to
include in his drag-net, if he were attempting to give a defini-
tion of slavery. We are all agreed about the Uncle Toms and
colored population of the Southern States of the American
Union. They are slaves not only in name but in fact ; kindly
treated, we believe, in the majority of instances, but still
essentially slaves. When we endeavor to go a little further,
we find ourselves considerably embarrassed. A man is the
slave of his own bad passions, of his lust after gain or power.
But this will scarcely do ; for by enlarging the definition too
much, the essence and reality of the thing to be defined is
altogether lost.

It may, perhaps, be better to begin at the other end, and
ascend from particulars to generals. Granting that the negro
gangs who are worked on the cotton grounds of the Southern
States of North America, or in the sugar plantations of Brazil,
are slaves, in what way should we speak of persons who are
circumstanced in the manner we are about to relate ? Let us
31*

366

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

consider them as inhabitants of a distant region — say of New
Orleans — no matter about the color of their skins, and then
ask ourselves what should be our opinion of a nation in which
such things are tolerated. They are of a sex and age the least
qualified to struggle with the hardships of their lot — young
women, for the most part, between sixteen and thirty years of
age. As we would not deal in exaggerations, we would pre-
mise that we take them at their busy season, just as writers
upon American slavery are careful to select the season of
cotton-picking and sugar-crushing as illustrations of their
theories. The young female slaves, then, of whom we speak,
are worked in gangs, in ill-ventilated rooms, or rooms that are
not ventilated at all ; for it is found by experience, that if air
be admitted it brings with it ' blacks' of another kind, which
damage the work upon which the seamstresses are employed.

Their occupations to sew from morning to night and night
till morning — stitch, stitch, stitch — without pause, without
speech, without a smile, without a sigh. In the gray of the
morning they must be at work — say at 6 o'clock — having a
quarter of an hour allowed them for breaking their fast. The
food served out to them is scanty and miserable enough, but
still, in all probability, more than their fevered system can
digest. We do not, however, wish to make out a case of
starvation, &c.

From 6 o'clock till 11 it is stitch, stitch. At 11 a small
piece of dry bread is served to each seamstress, but still she
must stitch on. At 1 o'clock, twenty minutes are allowed for
dinner — a slice of meat and a potato, with a glass of toast-
and-water to each workwoman. Then again to work — stitch,
stitch — until 5 o'clock, when fifteen minutes are again allowed
for tea. The needles are then set in motion once more —
stitch, stitch — until 9 o'clock, when fifteen minutes are allowed
for supper, a piece of dry bread and cheese and a glass of beer.
From 9 o'clock at night, until 1, 2, and 3 o'clock in the morn-
ing, stitch, stitch ; the only break in this long period being a
minute or two — just time enough to swallow a cup of strong
tea, which is supplied lest the young people should 'feel
sleepy.' At 3 o'clock A. M., to bed ; at fi o'clock A. M., out
of it again to resume the duties of the following day. There
must be a good deal of monotony in the occupation.

But when we have said that for certain months in the year
these unfortunate young persons are worked in the manner we
describe, we have not said all. Even during the few hours

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

367

allotted to sleep — should we not rather say to a feverish cessa-
tion from toil — their miseries continue. They are cooped up
in sleeping pens, ten in a room which would perhaps be suffi-
cient for the accommodation of two persons. The alternation
is from the treadmill — and what a treadmill ! — to the Black
Hole of Calcutta. Xot a word of remonstrance is allowed,
or is possible. The seamstresses may leave the milliner, no
doubt, but what awaits them on the other side of the door ?
Starvation, if they be honest, if not, in all probability, prosti-
tution and its consequences, &c.

Surely this is a terrible state of things, and one which
claims the anxious consideration of the ladies of England who
have pronounced themselves so loudly against the horrors of
negro slavery in the United States. Had this system of op-
pression against persons of their own sex been really exercised
in New Orleans, it would have elicited from them many ex-
pressions of sympathy for the sufferers, and of abhorrence for
the cruel taskmasters who could so cruelly over-work wretched
creatures so unfitted to the toil. It is idle to use any further
mystification in the matter. The scenes of misery we have
described exist at our own doors, and in the most fashionable
quarters of luxurious London."'

[The Times, May *9#», 1853.

After what you have seen of the enterprise, Major,
which animates these humane ladies of Stafford House,
in all honesty and simplicity, you are possibly ready to
conclude that they could not for a moment resist the ap-
peal of the seamstress-slave whose communication you
have above, nor yet the invitation of the " Thunderer,"
who had brought the matter to their " anxious considera-
tion;" but that they at once, and in a body, rushed to
the rescue, and broke "the chains of that slavery under
which so many thousands of their countrywomen are
bound." I shall call you verdant, if such be your infe-
rence. Look at the above expose* for a moment, and you
will see that these ladies are of those who are concerned
in rivetting these very chains — that they are, in part,
responsible for this terrible system ; being (as they are)
among the patrons of these " West End houses " in
" Bond street and its immediate neighborhood."

3G8

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

Ah, my friend, human nature is very frail ; and it is
humiliating to behold thus exposed the weakness and im-
perfections of our fellow-mortals. My gallantry shrinks
from the application of such terms to ladies, and to ladies
who are deemed among the excellent of the earth; for
these English ladies are surely eminent in virtues, in good
breeding;, and in refined tastes. I would not be consi-
dered coarse, or unmindful of what is due to these esti-
mable ladies, who were, perhaps, influenced by the purest
motives in what they have done and said with reference to
slavery. But what then ? If I find them stepping out
of their sphere with so much energy to intermeddle with
a political institution which they do not understand, and
endeavoring to throw an apple of discord among my
countrywomen upon the plea of charity, and yet, at the
same time, conveniently overlooking true and real objects
of charity at home, and selfishly and directly aiding to
encourage a system which is productive of greater physi-
cal distress than our slaves ever know, what can I say
but call things by their right names ? What can I do
but denounce the ignorance and conceit of those who are
used as instruments in promoting such a humbug ?

That I may not be deemed tedious, I bring this subject
and this letter to a close here, with the assurance that I
remain, dear Major,

Eespectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., IT. S. of America.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

369

LETTER XXXVIII.

CRUEL TREATMENT OF LUNATICS, ETC., AND OF PRISONERS,

BY THE BRITISH PEOPLE DEATH AT PECKHAM LUNATIC

ASYLUM A WITNESS AGAINST BETHLEHEM LUNATIC HOS-
PITAL DREADFUL ABUSES IN THAT HOSPITAL, AND BRUTAL

TREATMENT OF LUNATICS THERE SIMILAR CONDUCT AT

DUNSTON ASYLUM THE BIRMINGHAM JAIL DISCLOSURES

— ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF THE POOR IN A WORKHOUSE.

London, April 22d, 1854.

Dear Major : — I have said that the savage nature of
Englishmen manifests itself also in their treatment of
lunatics and prisoners, and other persons in a helpless and
unprotected condition. I have said so, because this con-
clusion has been forced upon me by circumstances which
have been brought to my attention during the last seve-
ral years. A few reported facts will bring you to the
same conclusion, I have not a doubt. Heart-rending facts
some of these are ; but after reading what you have of
the manner in which helpless women and children, and
even servants, are treated in this country, your nerves
will undergo less of a trial by reason of what I shall now
submit to you.

I should premise, that the treatment of lunatics and
insane persons, by keepers, assistants, etc., in this coun-
try, has of late attracted the attention of the press, and
of Parliament, because of the outcry which has been
raised on account of the enormous evil ; and something
has been or will be done, probably, in some places, to
ameliorate the condition of these unfortunates. But all
this only proves that the fierce and brutal nature of the
people, from among whom these keepers and assistants
come, has made it necessary that there should be this
special intervention of power for the protection of their
victims. No such intervention is needed in our country.

370

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

The following extract will give you an idea of the sort
of violence to which these persons seem to be subjected in
this country :

" THE DEATH AT PECKHAM LUNATIC ASYLUM.

The inquest on the body of Moses James Barnes, late a
pauper lunatic, at Dr. Armstrong's (or Peckham House Lu-
natic Asylum) was on Thursday resumed and concluded. The
inquiry was for the purpose of ascertaining the manner in
which the wounds had been inflicted. Mr. Under-sheriff Law,
who is also solicitor to the Commissioners of Lunacy, attended,
as on the former occasion, to watch the proceedings, as did
also Mr. Bennett, the assistant clerk to the board of guardians
of Clerkenwell, to which parish the deceased legally belonged.
According to the evidence adduced, the deceased ' seemed to
be going off — getting very thin, as if he was in a decline but
his death at the time when it did occur was caused by violence.
His arm was found to be broken and bruised, and there were
other injuries. The attendant stated that he did not know
how they occurred. He was told that the lunatic said it was
he (the attendant) who had done these injuries to him. The
attendant's reply was, 'It is quite false.' It was proposed to
examine a patient, Donnelly, who was rational in common con-
versation, but labored under certain fancies and delusions, and
was a decided lunatic. It was stated that his account agreed
with that of other patients ; but the coroner being told that
Donnelly could not be considered a responsible agent if he
violated the law, would not allow his evidence to be received.
The medical evidence attributed the death to violence most
distinctly ; and the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter
against some person or persons unknown." — Observer, Jan.
23, 1851.

It is true that it was not rendered certain by these pro-
ceedings that this unhappy man received the injuries by
which he died from his "attendant;" but that he came
to his death by violence at the hands of some one having
charge of him, seems to be evident from the verdict.

About this time, public attention was repeatedly called
to the treatment of lunatics in Bethlehem Hospital, and
other places, and I met with the following among other
statements :

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 371

"ANOTHER WITNESS AGAINST BETHLEHEM.

'On the 20th of September last,' writes Serjeant Henry
Stewart, late color-serjeant 50th Infantry, ' I went as an
attendant to Bethlehem Hospital. The patients that I
attended were all located in the basement. I continued in
that service only till the 8th of October, when I left in disgust
for other employment. I was there, therefore, only eighteen
days, but in that short space of time I witnessed acts so inhu-
man, and cruelty so great, that I conceive it my duty to lay an
account of what I saw before the public.

1 1 believe it was on the day after I entered the hospital that
one of the patients, James Brown, a jeweller, who was in the
dining-room, had taken a piece of bread belonging to another
patient. He was in the act of eating it, when an attendant
seized him by the throat, and squeezed it so tightly as to
strangle him, forcing him to disgorge the bread he was in the
act of swallowing. Keeping hold of him by the throat, he
dragged the patient into the passage, and threw him down
violently on the ground, and there left him.

'Another patient, named Barling, formerly an Independent
minister at TJpway, Dorsetshire, was in the dining-room with
others who were at dinuer. Barling stood up and said he
could not get his dinner comfortably there. The same attend-
ant as last mentioned instantly seized him, threw him down,
dragged him along the passage to the airing ground, the poor
man resisting all the time, and at the end of the passage threw
him down on the mat, opened the door, and then threw him
outside on the pavement, going out with him. I saw Barling
shortly afterwards. He could not walk then, but could only
limp, leaning on some one else.

The next case calling for notice relates to a patient named
Bechnell, formerly an oinnibus proprietor. The patients who
were in the west airing-ground were ordered in to dinner.
Madison refused to go, and then Bechnell refused also. I took
charge of Madison, and was taking him from the yard, when I
turned round and saw another attendant in the act of striking
Bechnell on the side of the head. Bechnell fell with his head
on the floor. He fell as if lifeless. I went on towards the
dining-room, and turned round again, when I saw him sitting
up, and the keeper standing over and apparently assisting him.

372

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

I then proceeded into the dining-room, and immediately after-
wards Bechnell was brought in by the keeper, who said he had
fallen down in a fit and cut his head. Bechnell was then taken
to the doctor and had his head dressed. The doctor did not
ask me how it happened that Bechnell's head had been broken.

' The above cases occurred between the 20th and 27th Sep-
tember, as nearly as I can recollect.

1 The concluding case I have to mention refers to Mr. Bar-
ling, the independent minister, a victim on another occasion
already stated. While I and another attendant were engaged
with other patients in the basement, Barliug got into the bath-
room. While going into the bath-room, my companion saw
Barling with a little piece of soap in his hand, which he had
purloined. Barling crouched down, and apparently expecting
to be struck, threw his hands over his head to save himself.
The keeper struck him with his fist on the back of the left jaw,
the force of the blow being such as to break off one of the
patient's front teeth, which I have now in my possession.
Having given him this blow, he followed it up by a kick, and
then left him. Signed, Henry Stewart,

late Color-serjeant of 50th Regiment.'" —
Observer, Nov. 17th, 1851.

It was not far from this time, too, I believe, that a com-
mission was appointed by Parliament for the purpose of
investigating such charges against this hospital ; and if I
had time and room to furnish you with the evidence which
was taken before that Committee, you would bow your
head in sorrow for the suffering which was thus brought
to light, and in shame for those who so long and sys-
tematically inflicted it. I can afford room only for a few
of the facts which were brought out at one of the sittings
of the Commission, and which are reported by the " Ob-
server;" but they will be sufficient to show you how such
things are managed in this country.

"DREADFUL ABUSES IN BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL.

We this week resume our extracts from the evidence laid
before the Commissioners of Lunacy, relative to the discipline,
management, and treatment of patients in the Bethlehem Hos-
pital. We refer our readers particularly to the evidence of the

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

373

surgeon who attended Miss Hyson, and which fully bears out
the comments we felt it our duty to make in the Observer of
Sunday last. Every step that has been made in the progress
of the investigation has only still further exposed the misman-
agement and reckless disregard of the health and feelings of
the unhappy victims of this fearful system, which has grown
up and gone on so long unchecked in the very heart of the
metropolis :

Mr. Taylor's explanation. — On the nth of July, 1851, Mr.
Charles Taylor, surgeon, of 4 Bethell place, Camberwell, was
called before the commissioners and examined. He stated that
he had been in the habit of attending Miss Hannah Hyson for
some time previously to her admission into Bethlehem. He
had been in close attendance upon her for three weeks before
that time. She was naturally thin, but was not greatly ema-
ciated ; she had the average amount of health and strength
for an invalid.

She went into Bethlehem on the 4th of April, and he saw
her again after she had come out on the 18th. She struck him
as being very much altered in appearance, and very emaciated ;
she was very much thinner than when she went in, and 'her
bones were almost projecting through her skin.' Her mind
was much less wandering ; but her countenance was very anx-
ious and dejected, and she looked miserable altogether. She
had no paralysis, but squinted a little, which was not the case
before she went in. She was laboring under diarrhoea. He
did not examine her person, and could not say whether there
were any wounds. He saw her face, but forgets whether he
noticed the marks that evening or not. Believes it was that
evening or the next morning her mother said, ' Oh ! Mr. Taylor,
my girl has been terribly ill-treated, and I wish you to look at
her,' and he then particularly examined her body all over, and
had a written account of it somewhere. There was, to the best
of his memory, ' a place ' or mark on the upper lip, and one on
her cheek also. The witness then, in answer to a variety of
questions, detailed the various marks and wounds upon the
patient's body, on the ankles, knees, hips, elbows, &c. She
died on the morning of the 22d, four days after leaving the
hospital, and ' we ' examined the body. By ' we ' he meant Dr.
Wood, the resident apothecary of the hospital, his partner Mr.
Crisp, and himself. The immediate cause of her sinking was
diarrhoea and want of food. She did not refuse her food after
32

374

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

she came out. Witness said to her, ' Hannah, now you must
take what I tell you ;' she said she would, and she did.

"CASE OF MISS MARY ISABELLA WHITTINGHAM.

Mrs. Elizabeth Whittingham, of Albert terrace, Ball's Pond,
Islington, deposed that she had a daughter named Mary Isa-
bella, a patient in Bethlehem Hospital. Her health at the
time was delicate — she had had inflammation of the throat and
cough, and had fallen away in flesh. She had no marks or
bruises on her body when she went in. She was violent and
high, but not to do any mischief. She went into the hospital
on the 9th of January, and it was two months before she could
see her. On the first occasion it was before the proper time,
and they would not allow her to see her daughter. Some of
her friends also went, but were refused. Afterwards, at the
proper time, when she went, the nurse said she could not see
her. Witness said, ' Cannot see her ! I must see her ; I am
her mother.' The nurse said, ' I cannot help that — you can-
not see her.' About a fortnight after that she went again and
saw her. She appeared to be in great distress, and cried bit-
terly. Witness entreated her not to do so, and she said, 'I
cannot help it; I cry all night.' She said, 'Look at my
fingers' (one of them was very much swollen) ; and when wit-
ness inquired the cause, she said it was one of the nurses, and
she also showed her bruises all down the side ; but witness had
not the opportunity of seeing any more. When asked why
she did not complain to Dr. Wood, the poor creature said it
is of no use complaining to Dr. Wood. While they were talk-
ing, Dr. Wood happened to come up, and the mother showed
the bruised hand and the marks on her side, and he showed
the swelled hand to one of the nurses, and asked, ' How is
this V The nurse said, ' Oh, that is an old affair.' The joint
of the finger was very much swollen. The name of the nurse
was Elizabeth. Her daughter told her that it was not that
nurse who had given her the bruises, but that Elizabeth used
to beat her with the keys. The bruises were not caused by
her tumbling about, but she at one time had the misfortune to
fall and hurt her hip, and the least push or blow given her by
the nurses would throw her down. Her daughter slept for
three months in the basement story — she said she never slept
on anything but the bare straw, and no night clothes what-
ever. Witness had no opportunity of examining her bed and
bedding, as she was not admitted into the place where her

BILLY. BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

375

daughter slept. The patient was dressed for the occasion,
and brought up to the gallery —her hair was very bad, and
nearly all cut away, and they took her brushes and combs from
her. No reason was given for placing her in the basement
story. Her daughter was subject to delusions. In about a
month the mother saw her again, and she then appeared much
the same, and wanted very much to come home. Her mind
then appeared to be better. Dr. Wood said he thought she
was going on pretty well. Every time the poor girl saw her
mother she complained of ill-treatment, -and the mother and
friends unfortunately thought it was one of her delusions. On
the second visit she complained that, being awake all night,
she overslept herself, and the nurse came 'and dragged her by
the hair of her head to make her get up, and shook her so vio-
lently that it brought on a violent fit of coughing. On an-
other occasion her face appeared very much swollen with con-
stantly crying. The patient was discharged cured on the 7th
of June. Before she left, she said she would certainly make a
complaint when she went before the committee, but Mr. Hun-
ter begged she would not, as Elizabeth, the nurse, had a
mother to keep, and the poor girl, being a feeling young per-
son, agreed not to make the complaint. The matron stood
beside the patient when she went before the committee, so that
she could not say anything. She had since gone to her rela-
tives in Somersetshire, in the hope that change of air might
further benefit her. Among other things which she told her
mother after she left the hospital was that on one occasion she
was going to take a bath — whether she did not do it properly
or not could not be ascertained, but no less than three of the
nurses forced her in again, and ill treated her very much, and
she begged never to be put in a bath again. She also com-
plained of their calling her most shocking names, and of very
bad language being used towards her.

"MEDICAL EVIDENCE WITH REGARD TO MISS MORLEY.

Mr. John Ogle Else, surgeon, of Albany road, Camberwell,
was called in to see Miss Anne Morley, the patient whose case
was referred to last week with the initials of A.M., under the
head of ' Peine forte et dure.' He was called in on the 28th
of December, 1850, at her father's residence, Jessamine Cot-
tage, Park street, Camberwell. He had previously, on the 6th
of October, signed a certificate for her admission into Bethle-

376 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

hem. She was then in a very impaired state of bodily health,
and appeared to be suffering from a description of low fever.
He did not apprehend but that she might be restored both
mentally and bodily, but on the second occasion, after she came
out, he did not think that she would live twenty-four hours.
She complained of having sores on her side, but be did not
examine her. Her health was so precarious that he endeavored
to dissuade her family from sending her to Northamptonshire!
believing that she would not survive the journey.

P. R. Nesbit, M. D., deposed to having received Miss Mor-
ley into his asylum at Northampton, on the 29th of December.
She was then in an extremely feeble condition. She was bed-
ridden, and had various sores all over her body
Dr. Nesbitt, in his letter to the commissioners, said the
sores and abrasions were evidently the consequences of
neglect — that the patient uniformly complained of the treat-
ment to which she was subjected in Bethlehem Hospital —
that she had nothing but straw to lie on, and there was no
attempt to interpose any kind of protection between her
body and the straw — that it hurt her much, and she had no
clothes even to cover her. She described her whole treatment
to be harsh and coarse, and the recollection of it to inspire her
with horror — that the nurses were in the habit of giving her
nicknames derived either from the color of her skin or from her
habits, and that they treated her like a brute. He adds that
the patient is remarkable for truthfulness. The whole of the
evidence brought forward in corroboration of the statements
made by the patients themselves is remarkably coherent and
consistent, and establishes a most revolting system of inhu-
manity and cruelty. The matter is little mended when we take
the evidence on the other side brought forward in defence of
the institution.

The editor from whose paper the above extracts are
taken, comments as follows :

"CASE OF THE POOR LUNATICS IN BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL.

The publication of t lie evidence taken before the Commis-
sioners of inquiry in the case of Bethlehem Hospital continues
to attract the most profound and painful attention on the part
of the public. A complete abstract of this evidence will be
found in another part of the Observer. In the meanwhile,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

377

however, t he attention of the reader may with propriety be
pointed to the important facts in that publication.

Miss Ann Morley — the patient whose case was alluded to
last week in this journal as A. If. — had, it would seem, a nar-
row escape with her life from the ' tender mercies' dispensed in
the 'incurable' ward of this establishment. She went in ill, no
doubt ; but not so ill as to cause her previous medical attendant
to despair of her restoration to health, bodily and mental ;
when she left, however, the same medical man, according to his
own solemn statement, did not expect she would live twenty-
four hours, such was her reduced condition.

It will scarcely add to the public horror at the system so
long and so cruelly pursued in Bethlehem Hospital, to state
that the wretched patients — female patients more especially —
were beaten — beaten, too, with the keys of their ward, by the
nurse-tenders.

Miss Isabella Whittingham, another patient, who has also
luckily escaped with her life, had one side covered with bruises,
and was moreover nearly scalped by the nurse-tenders dragging
her out by the hair of her head. Of course, when such bru-
tality was practised, decency of deportment would not be ob-
served, and therefore it will not surprise the public that filthy
names and bad language were constantly in the mouth of the
subordinate authorities, to whose ' tender mercies' the poor
patients in the 'incurable,' or more properly speaking, 'con-
demned' ward, were consigned." — Observer, Oct. llth, 1852.

But the exposures made by this proceeding, and the
report of the Committee, could not change the nature of
Englishmen. I continued, therefore, to meet with similar
complaints. Take, for example, the following extract,
which formed part of an article in which the editor, after
detailing a case of cruelty of another description, goes on
to say,

" The other case we find reported in the Durham Advertiser.
It occurred at Quarter Sessions, and, as tending to show that
at other luuatic asylums besides the Bethlehem, the practice of
gross cruelty towards insane persons still exists, should not be
lost sight of by those who do not think that diseases of the
mind are to be cured by sufferings inflicted on the body. The
Commissioners, we notice with pleasure, are on the alert, and
it was in consequence of a communication from them that the
32*

378

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

matter became the subject of inquiry. As the accusation runs,
the proprietor of the Dunston Asylum has horsewhipped one
of his patients, and (on the ground that he used them to bite
him with) has caused the extraction of some of his teeth. The
horsewhipping does not appear to be denied, the tooth-drawing
responsibility seems possibly to lie with the dentist, and not
witli the accused. Here, therefore, the matter lies ; a report
is sent to the Commissioners ; the license of Mr. Wilkinson,
against whom this misconduct is charged, is suspended ; and
the public waits for the result. We trust that it will be satis-
factory, and that if the vindication of the accused be not suffi-
cient, his punishment will be certain." — The Leader, April
16//?, 1853.

Again I found Sir B. Hall calling the attention of Par-
liament to the treatment of female lunatics at Bethlehem,
and to an alleged fact, which, if true, is excessively dis-
graceful and painful.

" BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL.

Sir B. Hall said it was stated that female lunula s in this
hospital were disgracefully treated ; that young girls were made
to stand quite naked whilst they were washed with a mop, and
then sent shivering to their cells, in the month of March. This
institution possessed £20,000 a-year, and was chiefly under the
management of the Corporation of London. The corporation
had met yesterday, and after despatching the. Jew question,
had proceeded to Bethlehem [laughter]. Mr. Gilpin moved
to make stringent inquiries into the treatment of the patients,
but the motion was withdrawn. He wished to know what had
been done to prevent the recurrence of such abuses as those
described by the Lunacy Commissioners ?

Mr. Fitzroy was not aware that the report alluded to would
be laid upon the table ; but a bill now in the Lords, intro-
duced by Lord St. Leonard's, and which he believed would be
passed, would place Bethlehem Hospital on the same footing as
other similar establishments [hear]." — Observer, March, 1853.

I must pass on to other matter, and bring to your at-
tention the inhumanity with which the poor in workhouses,
and prisoners in the jails, are treated in this country. I
select first from among others the following extract :

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

379

"ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF THE POOR IN LEWISHAM
WORKHOUSE.

On Thursday evening, a public meeting of the inhabitants
of Lewisham and the neighborhood was held at the Bull Inn,
to take into consideration allegations which have been freely
circulated, of great inhumanity to the poor on the part of the
officials of Lewisham workhouse. Mr. Brown, a former guar-
dian of the poor in the Lewisham Union, having been called to
the chair, expressed the deep regret he felt that it should be
necessary to call such a meeting, but the circumstances which
had transpired rendered it impossible for-the rate-payers to be
silent any longer. When he held the office of a guardian, he
found great reason to complain of the master's accounts, in
which he detected great discrepancies. He sought hard to
obtain an official inquiry into the matter, but the master being
allowed to amend his accounts, all further discussion was
stifled.

Mr. Day said his attention was directed in August last to
the case of a man named Cooke, then an inmate of the Lewis-
ham Union. The details of the case were of so harrowing a
character that he sought to have a conversation with him¥ but
an application he made to the master for that purpose was
peremptorily refused. He then applied to the chairman of the
Board of Guardians, but received no answer. He had under-
stood that Cooke had been confined to the house for nine con-
secutive months, without being allowed to cross the threshold
of the door.

Cooke, the pauper alluded to, was introduced. He appeared
to be in an infirm state of health, was suffering from the loss
of one of his eyes, and was about 2(3 or 27 years of age. He
said he had held a subordinate situation in connexion with the
Shooter's-hill district Post office, but his health having failed
him, he was compelled to seek admission into the Lewisham
Workhouse. He had received much ill-treatment from the
master, without having been able to obtain any protection from
the Board of Guardians. During the time he was an inmate
of the house, which extended over a considerable time, from
illness, he had witnessed cruelties of the most revolting charac-
ter. On one occasion, a pauper named Ferris, a man between
80 and 85 years of age, had a trifling dispute with the master,
the old man having asked for a short leave of absence from the
house. The master struck him a violent blow with his fist, and

380

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

then with another blow struck him down in the yard. Ferris
was unable to assist himself, and eventually a mau was sent to
remove him from the yard. As the old man was being re-
moved, the master said, 1 You are a d — d old rascal, and I
wish I had served you worse.' Ferris was taken to the infir-
mary, and a man was appointed to watch him night and day,
because he was unable, without help, to get in and out of bed.
On another occasion the master knocked a poor old woman,
if 0 years of age, down half a flight of stairs. A poor boy
named Day was admitted into the house, having received se-
vere injuries on his legs from the kick of a horse. The boy's
thighs having been injured, the hospital surgeons had made
two great incisions, and the consequence was he was unable to
move about without a crutch. The master ordered him to go
to work, and the boy, having expressed his inability to do so,
the master knocked the crutch from under his arm, and then
struck him over the head with it, immediately afterwards
striking him in the face with his fist. The following morning
the master called him (Cooke) into the office, and requested
him to have nothing to do with the boy, but Cooke replied
that the assault was of such a brutal character that he should
state it to the guardians. For this he was taken before the
guardians, and turned out of the house, although in a state of
serious illness. Leaving the house he fell senseless on the
road, and was conveyed by a police-officer to the residence of
a neighboring surgeon, and thence back to the Union-house.
The master refused to admit him, and he was drawn about in
a cart for three or four hours, unable to obtain any assistance.
He was again taken to the workhouse, at the door of which he
was met by the master, who told the driver to back him into
the ditch and leave him there, and he would take the conse-
quences, lie was in the workhouse ten weeks at that time.
No one was allowed to speak to him. Water was given to
him once only for the purpose of washing himself, and the ban-
dages he placed round his legs, which were sore, he had to
wash in his own urine. (Great sensation.) He was not allowed
to go to any place of worship, although he appealed to the
Board of Guardians for permission. Cooke was closely ques-
tioned as to the accuracy of his statements, but his testimony
was unshaken.

.Many cases of a character similar to those already detailed
were given by paupers in person, and by gentlemen who had
become acquainted with them. It was unanimously agreed

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

381

that the circumstances which had been laid before the meeting
should be represented to the Poor-law Board, and a sub-com-
mittee for that purpose was appointed. It was also agreed
that, if necessary, a petition should be presented to Parliament,
A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the proceedings,
which did not terminate until a very late hour at night." —
Weekly Dispatch, Feb. Qth, 1853.

During the past year considerable excitement was cre-
ated by reports of shocking cruelty practised on prisoners
in the jail at Birmingham. You will find the subject
alluded to in the following extract :

"CHARGES OF CRUELTY AGAINST THE GOVERNOR OF BIR-
MINGHAM JAIL.

In consequence of rumors that cruelties had been practised
iu the borough jail of Birmingham, Lord Palmerston ordered
an inquiry by Mr. Perry, the prison inspector. About three
months ago one Andrews, a youth, hung himself in his cell,
making a third case of suicide, besides several attempts at
suicide, made since Lieutenant Austen, R. N. (the present
governor), succeeded Captain Maconochie two years ago." —
Observer, July ith, 1853.

In pursuance of the order thus given by the Home
Secretary, a report was made in May last, by the inspec-
tor, Mr. Perry, which disclosed a system of shocking
cruelty and oppression practised in this jail. To this, the
visiting justices replied, denying most, or all, of the
charges ; and these proceedings, it seems, lead to the ap-
pointment of a commission for the purpose of investiga-
ting the subject. That inquiry developed facts which
serve to authorize all that I have said in relation to this
matter. I cannot afford room for the report made by this
commission, but will give you the substance of it con-
densed into an editorial article of the Observer.

"THE BIRMINGHAM JAIL DISCLOSURES.

The inquiry into the illegal and cruel proceedings that have
taken place from time to time within the last three years, in

382

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR;

Birmingham jail, has now terminated ; and a few remarks upon
the subject may not, therefore, be inappropriate. The evidence
adduced before the commissioners showed in the clearest
manner a continuous system of wanton and unlawful restric-
tions— of barbarous punisments. It showed penal labor out-
rageously disproportioned to the bodily powers of those on
whom it was imposed — and it showed prison allowances
reduced, for the most trivial offences, below the minimum re-
quired for the maintenance of health and strength — which,
with at least the acquiescence of the visiting justices, has been
allowed to aggravate the sentences judicially pronounced on
convicted offenders.

The governor of the prison, who was practically placed upon
his defence in the course of the inquiry, confined his answers
in substance to the bare allegation that he was no worse than
others — that he had only followed in the wake of his immediate
predecessor. But he made several admissions of a nature cal-
culated to vitiate his defence — among others that he had, twelve
months after his predecessor's departure, inserted in the book
which, according to the regulations, ought to form a daily
journal of all punishments inflicted in the prison, entries of
punishments alleged to have been inflicted by that officer,
which, as far as he knew, might or might not be facts. This
tampering with the records of the prison, however, bad as it
was, is not the worst feature of the case against him, as based
upon his own admission. For instance, he was in the habit of
sentencing prisoners to bread and water for prison offences,
without first hearing what they had to say in their own defence
— a notorious violation both of English law and of natural
equity. It was his practice to prevent prisoners committed for
trial from corresponding with their friends — which is also
wholly illegal. Prisoners convicted for the second time he
habitually detained until the evening of the day on which their
sentences expired, instead of discharging them, as the law
requires, at the earliest possible hour in the morning. He
punished the prisoners for speaking to one another in the yard,
which lie had no right whatever to do. And lastly, he syste-
matically abstained from recording the punishments which he
inflicted. The latter practice no doubt was demanded by the
nature of the punishment inflicted by him on the prisoner ; for,
contrary to law, as well as to morals, he 1 weighted' the crank
on which they worked to the extent of no less than ten thou-
sand ! revolutions in a siugle day ; and not alone this, but he

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

383

compelled his victims to carry on their work long after dark,
leaving them to guess when they had accomplished their task ;
though, while thus employed, they were each, in the opinion
of an engineer who was examined, doing more than twice the
work which ought to have been exacted from an able-bodied
man, while they received no food (a one pound loaf of bread
and water) until ten o'clock at night, ' having then been without
sustenance the whole day.' Very often, too, after long depri-
vation of food, they were compelled to suffer the punishment
of the strait-jacket, with the attendant collar and straps.

The result of this system of torture, for such it was and
nothing else, was a chronic tendency to suicide on the part of
the prisoners ; a state of mind perfectly comprehensible in the
presence of death by lingering torture — torture inflicted, too,
not in the open light of day, by responsible administrators of
the law, but in the darkness and secrecy of the crank cell.

But though the governor was decidedly the gravest offender
in this terrible case of cruelty and oppression towards the
prisoners, he was not alone to blame ; for magistrates and
officers of every grade connected with the prison were equally
cruel, or when not actually so, were most culpably indifferent
to the sufferings inflicted on those whom it was their duty to
protect as well as to keep in safe custody." — Observer, Sep-
tember 19th, 1853.

Believe me, dear Major,

Yr. obdt. servt. and cousin,
To Major J. Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Georgia, U. S. of America.

384

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ; OR,

LETTEE XXXIX.

WHAT IS THE SOCIAL HAPPINESS OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE ?

THE PAUPERS AND THE BEGGARS HELP TO FURNISH AN
ANSWER.

London, April 28th, 1854.

Dear Major : — Up to this point of our correspondence,
I have been furnishing you with facts, for the immediate
purpose of enabling you to understand something of the
morals of the British people, as a nation. With what has
been thus submitted, there has been necessarily associated
much that may help you to form a very fair judgment at the
same time, as to the happiness of the same people. But
as I am anxious that in both these respects, you shall be
able to make something of a just comparison, between
them, — possessed as they are, of free institutions, and the
highest degree of civilization which has been developed
under the influence of such institutions, — and between the
people of our slave-holding states, I propose now to bring
to your attention some other facts, with which I have
been made acquainted, the effect of which will be to aid
you in forming an opinion as to the comparative advan-
tages of the two people, with regard to those elements
which constitute the greatest amount of happiness for a
nation. Associated with these facts, there will, of course,
again be, more or less of those circumstances which reflect
light upon the moral character and conduct of the same
people.

You must excuse me, Major, if I try your patience
somewhat further, by a few preliminary remarks. I should
like for us to agree, as to what constitutes the true evi-
dence of happiness among a people. It seems to me,
that a correct general proposition of this sort, should be

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

385

phrased somehow in this way ! That people may be said
to be the happiest, who. taken as a whole, possess the
largest share of average health, of material comforts, and
of moral and mental enjoyment. You will have no dif-
ficulty in agreeing to this, I suppose.

Now, correctly to compare one people with another, in
the respect of social blessings, we must first ascertain, or
approximate to a knowledge of the extent to which these
several elements of social happiness are enjoyed by that
people. That is what I propose to do for your benefit, in
what I am writing, or have written to you ; with one ex-
ception, and that is as to the health* of this people. I
have no correct data, and I know not how such can be
procured, by which we might arrive at entirely accurate
information on this subject.*

Certainly, so far as the higher classes in this country
are concerned, there are some statistics which seem to
indicate that they have the advantage over us (that is
to say, over our white population) in this respect. But
it would not be fair to take such examples from the
higher classes only. If we look to these classes alone,
the comparison would be favorable as to the other ele-
ments of happiness stated ; indeed it would be strikingly
to their advantage, as regards some of them. It can-
not be denied, for example, as I have had occasion already
to remark, that there is no class of persons upon earth,
(in my opinion,) possessing material comforts to an ex-
tent that can compare with the nobility and gentry of
this country, or with the wealthy middle classes of society ;
as there are none to vie with them in splendid hospitality,
and in the graces and amenities of private life.

It should be added, that health and duration of life de-
pend as well upon the influence of climate, as upon the
character and habits of a people, and therefore they should
be properly omitted from the elements of a comparison,
such as I am inviting you to make.f

Concede then to the upper ranks of society here, the
possession and enjoyment of material comforts (and in this
term — without pausing to consider the critical accuracy

* See App., F.

f See App., C. § 25.

386

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

of the definition — I include those things which serve to
gratify the tastes, as well as those which minister to the
appetites and necessities of man) in so high and remark-
able a degree ; still you will find upon a general survey
of all classes, that there is in other directions, an absence
of these material elements of man's enjoyment, to an ex-
tent which is shocking to the sympathies of one from our
country, and to an extent which should make him very
grateful that " his lines are fallen in pleasant places," and
in another land. You will find too, that such a survey
of all ranks and all classes in this country authorizes the
conclusion, that so far as the elements of mental and moral
enjoyment are concerned, as compared with our people,
even with our slaves, the inhabitants of these British
islands are a miserable people.

Let us see, then, what is to be ascertained as to a gene-
ral diffusion of those elements which minister to the com-
fort and necessities of human life in this country. I call
your attention first to some general statements under this
head.

I find by the " Statistical Companion" (English authority
which I have already quoted), that the population of
England and Wales in 1851, was 17,922,768 ; that the
number of paupers receiving relief on the 1st day of Janu-
ary, 1849, was 940,851 ; on the 1st day of January, 1852,
was 792,026 ; that the number of adult able bodied pau-
pers in 1849, was 201,644 ; in 1852, was 130,163. I find,
also, by the same authority, that the amount expended
for relief of the poor in England and Wales, during the
year ending at Lady-day, 1850, was £5,395,022, or up-
wards of twenty-six millions of dollars ; and during the
jfear ending at Lady-day, 1851, the expenditure was
. <£4, 952,704, or upwards of twenty-two millions of dollars.

To relieve this plethora of pauperism somewhat, it has
been the habit here, sometimes to ship certain of the chil-
dren in the workhouses, to the colonies. This practice
was found to be so cruelly abused, that Parliament deemed
it expedient to interfere and endeavor to regulate it, con-
sistently with humanity. It would seem, however, from
exposures, which were made in the newspapers, some year
or two since (and I refer more especially to the Observer

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 387

of February 3d, 1851), that notwithstanding these pre-
cautions, the practice is still occasionally continued, even
in violation of the statute law. These transactions, it is
true, were carried to the account of good motives ; but
what would these crusaders in the African waters think
of such a plea in the mouth of the captured slave-trader ?

According to the Observer of March 21st, 1853, the
number of children still remaining

" In the workhouses of the several -unions and parishes
in England and Wales, on the 25th of March, 1851, and
1852, were : — 25th of March, 1851,. 27,032 boys, and
22,420 girls, making 49,452. On the 2'5th of March last,
46,600 boys and girls, of whom 5297 were capable of
entering upon service."*

Notwithstanding the immense outlay for the relief of
the poor in this country, the extent of suffering and des-
titution is perfectly wonderful. Some years since we
were told, that, " In London, one-tenth of the population
are paupers, and 20,000 rise every morning, without
knowing where they are to sleep at night. The paupers,
criminals, and vagrants alone in it, and its vicinity, are
180,000." (Alisons Principles of population.)

You will find from other and more recent data, that
these figures, and especially the number of those, who, in
the morning, know not where they are to sleep at night,
must be considerably enlarged.

We are told again, that

"In Liverpool there are T800 inhabited cellars, occupied by
39,000 persons. The great proportion of these cellars are
dark, damp, confined, ill-ventilated, and dirty." — Mr. Sidney's
Report to the House of Commons.

" Dr. Robertson, an eminent surgeon of Manchester, who7
has had a great deal of experience among the laboring classes,
sums up thus the accumulated evils incident to their condition :

'Too early employment — too long employment — too much
fatigue — no time for relaxation — no time for mental improve-
ment— no time for the care of health — exhaustion — intem-
perance— indifferent food — sickness — premature decay — a large
mortality.'

* See Appendix G., as to pauperism in Georgia.

388

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

The same gentleman, in speaking of the laboring poor of
the agricultural districts, says that, in his opinion, their state
is not more favorable to the preservation of perfect life of body
than that of the manufacturing poor. He remarks :

'What I say concerning these poor people, is the result of
much observation of them, and I consider it a duty to lift the
veil from a subject surrounded by many respectable prejudices.

Their extreme poverty, and their constant labor

so influence them, that the majority — I am sure I speak within
bounds — have never the enjoyment of health after forty years
of age. This is the result of bad food — insufficient clothing
— wearing toil — and the absence of all hope of anything better
in this world.'

The peasant's house is not the abode of joy or even comfort.
No ' children run to lisp their sire's return,' or ' climb his knees,
the envied kiss to share.' The children are felt to be a burthen,
ill-fed, ill-clothed, and lying on beds worse than the lower
animals ; they are ragged, or clothed by charity ; untaught, or
taught by charity ; if sick, cured by charity ; if not starved,
fed by proud charity," &c.

The London Times of December 1st, 1852, referring to
destitution in the metropolis, says, that

" One most mournful and terrific contrast ever meets the
eyes — the extreme of destitution and despair face to face with
the extreme of luxury and physical enjoyment, and, unless
timely remedies be applied, this disorder and wrong will result
very calamitously to the entire social system."

The same paper in the month of March following,
furnishes the following information :

^'Does it not appear at first sight a strange result of the
statistics of society, that upon an average one person out of
twenty of the inhabitants of this luxurious metropolis is every
day destitute of food and employment, and every night with-
out a place for shelter or repose.

It may be that we are blessed with greater means thau our
neighbors ; but, if we judge by results, the conclusion is inevi-
table, that there is no charity like English charity — there is
no country in the world where such strenuous efforts have been

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 389

made to relieve the destitution and minister to the wants of
the suffering classes. Notwithstanding all these efforts, it is
a lamentable fact that in this town of London alone, the centre
and core of British civilization, 100.000 persons are everyday
without food, save it be the precarious produce of a passing job
or a crime. Since England was England the general prosperity
of the country has never reached so high a point as at the
present moment. We mark with complacency the gradual
rise of this swelling tide of wealth and. luxury ; we take no
notice of the receding wave. Many schemes have been de-
vised by politic or humane persous to remedy this acknowledged
evil. The statesman erects his poor-raw unions, and the
philanthropist his house of refuge ; but still the destitution
continues. It is stated in the Registrar-General's annual re-
port for 1849, 'that nearly one human being died weekly in
this wealthy metropolis from actual starvation.' In the cor-
responding report for 1851, we find that twenty-eight adults
died from starvation, and 252 infants from want of breast-
milk or want of food. In the month of December, 1851, five
adults died from starvation, and twenty-nine infants from in-
anition. But the respectable rate-payer will say, 1 Such
things need not be. No man, woman, or child in England —
certainly no person within the limits of the metropolis — need
perish for want of food. A starving person has but to apply
as a casual pauper at the door of any work-house, or enter a
police court or station-house, and, the dire necessities of
nature would be on the instant supplied. In so vast a popu-
lation, instances must of course occur of persons who will care-
fully hide their shame and their wants from every eye until
they sink down exhausted in some lone spot to die. There
are upwards of 80,000 persons who profess to look after the
interests of the poor in London alone. To guard against any
possibility of these exceptional cases one-half of the popula-
tion should be converted into ex officio guardians of the other
half."

Commenting on the article, a part of which is given
above, another London journal holds the following lan-
guage :

" The efforts of the committee of management of the Lei-
cester-square Soup Kitchen have been so important to the
poor of this metropolis as to elicit the extraordinary expres-
sion of satisfaction (which will be found subjoined) from the
33 *

390

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

leading morning journal of this country. This in itself is a
test of the value of the services of this society ; but a better
test is furnished in the returns of the amount of relief furnished
to the necessitous ; a better still by the statements of the house-
less and hungry victims of an unsound social system whom
they have relieved." — Observer, March 29th, 1852.

You perceive that by the contemplation of so much
distress and destitution, an admission is, as it were wrung
from this English journal, that these sufferers are " the
victims of an unsound social system." But you will be
satisfied of this by other and abundant facts.

These must be reserved for subsequent letters. For
the present, I must close, with the assurance, that I am,
as ever,

Respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

391

LETTER XL.

THE INQUIRY INTO THE HAPPINESS OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE, AS

A NATION, CONTINUED STEALING CAUSED BY DISTRESS

INCREASE OF VAGRANCY IN THE METROPOLIS STREET BEG-
GING THE LEICESTER SQUARE SOUP-KITCHEN AND HOSPICE

THE VERY POOR OF THE METROPOLIS — DEATHS FROM

STARVATION THE HUNGRY CHILDREN IN THE RAGGED

SCHOOLS PAUPERISM AND VAGRANCY MORE OF THE LEI-
CESTER SQUARE SOUP-KITCHEN CHILDREN DYING FOR WANT

OF BREAST-MILK ANOTHER DEATH FROM STARVATION — THE

COMMON LODGING HOUSES IN ST. GILES ATTEMPT OF TWO

MAIDEN LADIES TO COMMIT SUICIDE BY STARVATION, ON AC-
COUNT OF THEIR DESTITUTION.

LondoD, May 1st, 1854.

Dear Major : — I am now about to send you some
statements and instances in illustration of the suffering
and destitution which prevails in this kingdom.

The following is a case of stealing caused by distress.
It will try your sensibilities :

" STEALING CAUSED BY DISTRESS.

At the Mansion House, on Thursday, Sarah Boring, a per-
son whose face indicated bodily and mental suffering, was
charged before the Lord Mayor with stealing a shilling. It
appeared that the prisoner was seen by a policeman to go
to one of the shops in Cannon-street, and present a petition
for relief. The tradespeople in that neighborhood being over-
whelmed with applications from pretended as well as real
objects, she was refused. She, however, went back to the
shop, after a little hesitation, and took up a shilling lying on
the counter, which, being missed before she left the shop, she
was taxed with theft, which she owned, and said it was through
distress. The shopkeeper, being a humane man, did not ap-
pear. The prisoner, with tears gushing from her eyes, said
she was starving, and so was her husband and children, and

392 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

the policeman said he had been to her lodging in Bermondsey,
and found it a place of wretched poverty ; there was an old
bedstead and a little straw on it, but no clothes whatever, and
on the straw the husband lay with disease of the hip, and two
children at the foot, and not a morsel of food in the room.
The Lord Mayor directed that immediate relief should be
given her and her family, and told her to 1 go and sin no more.' "
— Observer, February 24th, 1851

I do not wonder that the Lord Mayor was softened by
the touching eloquence of such a scene of suffering and
" wretched poverty," that he was overcome by the picture
of that room with its " old bedstead, and a little straw on
it, but no clothes whatever;" and on the straw the dis-
eased husband, with his "two children at the foot, and not
a morsel of food in the room;" whilst the feeble tottering
mother makes a desperate effort to relieve the sufferers,
by ravishing from society what she could not otherwise
procure. Ah ! my friend, we who in our comfortable
homes know not what such sufferings are, should be very
grateful to the Giver of all good gifts, that in those homes
even our " hired servants have bread enough and to
spare ;" and even they are lead not into such temptations,
as this poor woman encountered.

From the same paper, I clipped the following :

" INCREASE OF VAGRANCY IN THE METROPOLIS.

At an inquest held on Wednesday by Mr. Wakley, M. P., on
the body of a prisoner in the House of Correction, a state-
ment was made by Mr. Wakefield, the house surgeon, which
at a subsequent period may demand the careful consideration
of the Government. Of late, he says, vagrancy has frightfully
increased in the metropolis, and the magistrates frequently
send persons in a dying condition to the prison, where, with
the aid of better diet, they soon recover. Two were lately
admitted, mere skeletons, one of whom had increased fifteen
pounds, and the other twenty pounds, on the day of discharge.
So much do the poor prefer the prison to the workhouse, that
they commit certain crimes in order to obtain the privilege of
incarceration, some as many as fifty or sixty times. To pre-
vent the house from being crowded by them, the visiting
magistrates limited those that were sent for fourteen days to

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

393

bread and gruel, and gave only bread and water to those com-
mitted Tor seven days. But yet the vagrants outwitted the
magistrates by committing crimes which procured them three
months and full prison diet. On leaving the prison, they
would say to the turnkey that they had ' capital diet, and
they were prepared for a fresh start.' There were 1225
prisoners in the house. Deceased had said that he was in the
habit of walking twelve miles a day to beg. The coroner
expressed his approval of the admirable arrangements of the
prison, in which the jury fully acquiesced, and returned a ver-
dict of Natural Death."

It is very sad to think of these poor wretched skeletons,
as committing crimes, in order to obtain " the privilege
of incarceration," and with it food; and in a short time
carrying away with them fifteen or twenty pounds of
flesh produced by the prison diet, as a support for the
ensuing period of freedom and destitution.

About this time, a vigorous effort was made in London
to suppress street begging, and at the same time extend
relief to a large portion of the deserving poor. With
this object in view, a society was formed, which was called
the " Leicester Square Soup Kitchen and Hospice." To
this benevolent association large contributions were made,
and for several years the experiment was fairly tried. It
has been abandoned, for want of funds, I believe ; but it
certainly relieved an immense deal of suffering whilst it
existed. The reports of persons connected with it, from
time to time made, brought to light a mass of facts, serv-
ing to exhibit and expose the character and extent of the
suffering and destitution among the lower classes of this
country. I will furnish you with a few extracts from
some of these reports.

"SUPPRESSION OF STREET BEGGING — ST. JAMES'S PARISH.

To the Chairman and Committee of the Leicester Square
Soup-Kitchen.

Gentlemen : In forwarding my report for the month of
February, I have much satisfaction in drawing your attention
to the annexed table, showing the gradual diminution of

394

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD * OR,

beggars detected asking alms in St. James's parish, all of
whom were strangers, and ignorant of the measures adopted
for their suppression.

The licensed victuallers esteem this arrangement as a great
boon to themselves, as well as their bar and parlor customers ;
their attention to business being incessantly interrupted from
dusk to closing time, in ordering out stalwart men beggars
asking for money to pay a night's lodging ; and women, boys
and girls, pretending to vend lucifer matches, combs, prints,
ballads, &c.

The success attending this evening duty the past two nights,
has proved most satisfactory, and will, hereafter, do much
towards removing from the streets a set of desperate prowlers,
who, under the cloak of night meet you at every turn, and, by
unceasing importunities to your remonstrances, as they walk
side by side, create considerable alarm in the timid, or espe-
cially unprotected females.

There can be no doubt that several thousands of vagrants
will be drawn from the country to the metropolis this summer ;
it therefore behooves parochial authorities — now that it is
proved mendicity can be easily suppressed — to adopt stringent
measures for checking the inroads of provincial mendicants,
and for putting down the present existing intolerable nuisance
in our streets.

Beggars detected, total English, 63 ; total Irish, 207 ; gross
total, 270. J. Ettershank, Supervisor.

Monthly Report of the Leicester Square Soup Kitchen and
Asylum, for February, 1851.

I beg respectfully to forward my report of this institution
for the month of February, 1851. The table of the number
of recipients at the kitchen shows an increase of nearly 4000
persons over that of the month of January last : —

Table of Numbers Believed. — Relieved in Soup Kitchen,
men, 9317 ; women, 1605 ; total, 10,022. — Families and sick
resident poor, men, 2466; women, 3086; children, 12,132;
total families, 17,684. — Total number relieved, 28,606.

The Refuge. — 280 women and 488 men have been provided
with beds, supper, and breakfast. From the large numbers

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

395

of deserving applicants applying all hours of the day, a further
number of 356 poor men and women have partaken of a morn-
ing and evening meal of bread and coffee.

Want of Breast-Milk. — I am happy to state that all the
poor female sufferers applying for relief with infants in arms,
are now free from this complaint. By dint of care, and good
nourishing soup and bread, they recovered their milk, and
their babies have been restored to health, and saved from an
untimely grave. They were very grateful for the protection
and relief afforded them in the hour of trial.

John Browning, aged 18 ; James Kearney, 65 ; John Long,
10 weeks; and Wm. Barton, T4 — died during the month in
this metropolis from starvation.

R. Crate, Superintendent.

Ham- Yard, Great Windmill street, Feb. 28, 1851."

[Observer, March 11th, 1851.

The following observations are from the editor of the
paper from which the above extracts are taken, and are
of the same date : m

"the very poor of the metropolis.

It is a terrible and heart-rending fact, that numbers of per-
sons annually die in the streets of London of hunger and desti-
tution. However anxious the public may be to shut their eyes
to this appalling reality, it cannot be qualified, much less re-
futed. The fact stares us in the face in all its hideous de-
formity ; fain would we shun the reflection, but it is impossible.
Great privations are endured, especially in the winter months,
in many foreign countries where the severity of the weather is
most acutely felt. In the north of France, in Belgium, in
Holland, and in many parts of Germany, the sufferings of the
humbler classes are very great ; but the cases are of extremely
rare occurrence in which deaths from sheer starvation are re-
ported to the authorities in the principal cities of those coun-
tries. In London, however, the wealth and material greatness
of which exceed that of any other city in Christendom, deaths
from actual want of food are of daily occurrence. Strangers
to our laws and social regulations may be inclined to question
this fact. They may say that such canuot be the case in a
country where the Government raises an enormous sum per

396

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

annum in the shape of poor-rates, and where a simultaneous
collection of private bounty unparalleled in amount to that
received for similar purposes in any other city in the world, is
constantly going on. The truth of these statements cannot
be denied, and hence the marvel that there should be in the
metropolis so many of the very poor. The solution of the
difficulty is, however, instant and intelligible. Enormous as is
our national establishment for the relief of the poor, and nume-
rous as are our private charities, they are unable to meet the
pressing exigencies of those who die in the streets from want
of food. There are hospitals in all quarters of the city where
those laboring under every description of human infirmity may
repair. The existence of present and palpable disease is the
only qualification required for admission to those magnificent
institutions. There are other establishments supported by the
bounty of the affluent, or by the assistance of the prudent, in
the hour of prosperity, which are the receptacles of those who
have 1 toiled all day, and nothing spun,' and where they may
pass the declining years of their lives. But there is no ade-
quate asylum for the wretched wayfarer, whose hard lot it is
to wander hungry through the great thoroughfares of the town,
and whose necessity ought to be sufficient to entitle him to
immediate relief.

In many cases strong men, or men who were strong when
they commenced their journey, have trudged on foot perhaps
fifty or 100 miles, in the expectation of finding some descrip-
tion of employment on their arrival. Their hopes, however,
are frustrated ; no employment awaits them ; and as their
slender resources are consumed in a few days, they are forced
to become outcasts in the streets with no alternative except
starvation or crime. They have no claim upon the Metro-
politan Union House, except as casual poor. The utmost
relief they can hope for is a morsel of bread and a roof to cover
them for the night, and for one night only. Many of those
workmen never return to their native place. To use an ex-
pression familiar to political economists, they are 1 consumed'
in the metropolis — that is, some find employment, but many,
alas, the greater portion, are struck down by disease and
famine, and ultimately become the subject for coroners' in-
quests, when the stereotyped verdict of 1 died from want and
destitution' is returned.

Within the last few days the public journals have recorded
no less than three deaths resulting from want of actual food.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

397

Oue of these wretched beings died on the pavement in the
open street, desolate and alone, whilst thousands of his fellow-
creatures were swarming around him ! Here is the official
record: — 'John Browning, aged 18, a laboring man from
Frome, in Somersetshire, fell exhausted, from inanition, in
Mornington Crescent, on Sunday, February 9, 1851, and died
a few hours afterwards. The verdict of the jury was, ' Died
from want and destitution.' A policeman, giving evidence,
stated, that a short time previous to the deceased's falling, he
had ordered him, whilst lying shivering on the pavement on
another part of his beat, to get up and move off, as he thought
he was shamming. The other instances to which we have
alluded are thus chronicled : — 'At an inquest held on Thurs-
day (Feb. 20), on James Kearney, painter, aged 65, at the
Goat, Tash street, Gray's Inn-lane, it was stated that the body
lay in a wretched hovel, denuded of furniture, which had been
sold to buy food ; and the surgeon, at' the post mortem exami-
nation, deposed that he had not found the least particle of
solid food in the stomach.' At an inquest held the same day,
on John Long, at the Three Compasses, Cowcross street, West
Smithfield, the body presented an appalling appearance — was
a 'mere skeleton.' Dr. Walker performed a post mortem
examination, and, in accordance with his opinion, the jury
returned a verdict — 'That the deceased died from want of
food and nourishments

These are terrible realities, that must not be permitted to
continue in a Christian land. For the sake of our common
nature it must be presumed that the affluent are in ignorance
of the existence of such appalling distress in the midst of un-
precedented plenty, prosperity, and grandeur."

Oh, of course, my dear sir, they are ignorant " of the
existence of such appalling distress." How should it be
otherwise ? They are not in ignorance, it is true, " of
that system of negro slavery which prevails, with its
frightful results," (according to the ladies of Stafford
House) " in many of the vast regions of the Western
world." But poor old John Browning lay shivering,
"shamming," and dying, in his hunger agony away off
there, upon the cold pavement of Mornington Crescent,
hard by the Begent's Park (where he was not even allowed
a spot on which to die in peace), and how should these
"affluent" English men or women be expected to know
34

398 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ; OR,

any thing about it ? Ah ! if it had only been his good
fortune to have been called Uncle Tom, or Quimbo, and
to have been " shamming" it a little, close at hand here,
in a negro-cabin, or cornfield, " in some of those vast
regions of the Western world," why then, to be sure,
there would have been some chance for those who live
here " in the midst" (as this editor says) of such " unpre-
cedented plenty, prosperity, and grandeur," to have known
something of such distress, and to have made a flourish
about it.

But this editor adds something more in the shape of
really valuable information.

" The total number of persons relieved at the sonp-kitchen
in January, 1851, was 24,642, of whom 11,189 were famishing
children. But it must not be supposed that this relief is con-
fined to the necessitous, who are unable to work in conse-
quence of infirmity or old age, and who are struggling to keep
out of the workhouse. A great portion of the relief is given
to laborers and skilled workmen for whom there is no employ-
ment, and who would have been in all probability driven to the
commission of crime had not this timely assistance been afforded
to them. In the month of January last the institution relieved
S870 laborers, 960 excavators, 548 carpenters, 784 bricklayers,
392 plasterers, 41 butchers, 37 bakers, 185 clerks, 167 waiters,
39 watercress-sellers, 115 costermongers, 26 bookbinders, 11
map colorers, 21 wheelwrights, 13 blacksmiths, 369 shopmen,
8 harness-makers, 507 painters, 432 glaziers, 557 servants, 621
female servants, 127 sailors, and 107 distressed foreigners. To
descant upon the usefulness of such an institution would, there-
fore, be idle. There is, however, another class of persons to
whose wants this admirable institution has directed its atten-
tion. It is well known that hundreds of infants annually die
in the metropolis in consequence of the want of their natural
food. It is impossible that the wretched mother, whose form
is wasted by famine and exhausted by inanition, can replenish
the fountain from which her infant ought to draw its life stream.
Within the last twelve months 180 infants are reported to have
died from 'want of breast milk.' This calculation, however,
gives no idea of the number who actually died from causes more
or less attributable to a deficient supply of their natural food. In
order to remedy as far as possible the ravages of this deplora-
ble disease, the institution has notified the public that medical

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

399

advice and nourishment will be afforded to all poor women ap-
plying under such circumstances. The result has been in the
highest degree satisfactory and gratifying, the poor women
rapidly regaining their strength under the kindly and judicious
treatment which has been afforded them." — Observer, March
11th, 1851.

The Times, of October 13th, 1851, contains an adver-
tisement from the committee of the Field Lane Kagged
School Nightly Refuge, making the following appalling
disclosure : — " The nightly cry of the wretched inmates
is ' Bread ! bread ! we cannot sleep* for hunger. Do give
us our morning's allowance now.' "

Below you have another extract from a report made
by the officers of the Leicester Square Soup Kitchen.

"LEICESTER SQUARE SOUP-KITHEN — — OCTOBER REPORT.

To the Chairman and Committee of the Leicester square
Soup-kitchen and Hospice.

Gentlemen : I beg to present the report for October of our
operations : 4301 poor persons have had a good substantial
meal in the kitchen ; 5711 have taken the food given them
home to their families ; 332 men and 134 women have been
sheltered at the Refuge, and provided with a supper and break-
fast ; 7181 men and women have reaped the advantage of the
lavatories and cabinets ; and 285 men and 374 women have
obtained good situations by means of the Free Registry.

The sudden cold weather has been a trial to the poor, par-
ticularly to old people, and when they can't get bread to eat,
they say it pinches them up terribly. I have had lately some
very distressing cases, much more than usual, among aged and
infirm poor persons. I felt it my duty to keep a particular
account of them, which can be seen when required. The
struggle they make to keep out of a workhouse would scarcely
be believed. Our relief is looked upon by them as providen-
tial. During the last ten days the applicants for relief have
been very numerous. I have been obliged to refuse a great
many, who begged very hard for a basin of soup and a morsel
of bread. It is painful to refuse, but I can't relieve more per-
sons than the food in the kitchen gives me the power of doing.

400

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABEOAD ) OE;

I beg respectfully to appeal to you, gentlemen, to allow me to
give orders for more meat and bread, at least as long as the
bitter cold weather lasts.

] feel it my duty to observe that in the papers of this day,
the Registrar-General in his weekly account of the people who
die in London, states, one died from destitution, and five
children at the breast from want of food.

Your respectful servant,

Robert Crate, Superintendent."
[Observer, November 10th, 1851.

On the 22d of December in the same year, this journal
published a report which contained the following lan-
guage

" The resident poor appear to suffer much from the inclem-
ency of the weather, particularly where the father or mother
is sick whilst out of work. Their submissive looks, pallid
faces, and shivering limbs, too plainly indicate the extent of
their inward want and absence of proper warm clothing. To
the pangs of an empty stomach may be added the wretched-
ness of an empty fire-grate and the miseries of a little family
at home crying for bread. I think our Kitchen has been justly
termed the 'barometer of poverty,' as any one who visits our
crowded doors at 3 o'clock will soon discover the index of
want prevailing upon the working-classes. The mutton broth
has been of great service to poor women with infants at their
breasts. Both mother and child rapidly gain health and
strength with this food. It is very painful to know that, from
the want of it, sickness, misery, and death, abound in the dwel-
lings of hundreds of the poor of this metropolis. The Regis-
trar-General records, in his last week's report, the death of
eight children from 'want of breast-milk' and 'inanition,' which,
I presume, means downright starvation."*

Again we find the following at another date :

* For different condition of slave mothers and children, see App., D.,
U 10, 32, 62, 68, 85, 98.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

401

"LEICESTER SQUARE SOUP-KITCHEN AND HOSPICE. — REPORT
OF OPERATIONS FOR FEBRUARY, 1852.

To the Chairman and Committee of the Leicester Square
Soup-kitchen.

Gentlemen : I regret to be compelled to state that a very
large number of poor families are still without employment.

Those who have to depart from our kitchen since one copper
has not been in use from want of funds, amount on the average
to 343 poor families daily, who certainly chiefly depended on
this supply for their support. Many have walked miles to
obtain a ticket of relief, and it is truly painful to see these poor
creatures obliged to return home with their pitchers and aprons
empty, to a host of ' expectant little ones,' who are awaiting
the meal of bread and soup.

The infant mortality, from want of food, continues on the
increase. The Registrar-General's last weekly report repre-
sents eight to have died from 'starvation.' Deaths among
adults from the same cause are also unusually great.

Robert Crate, Superintendent.
John Smart, Assistant- Secretary."
[Observer, March 8th, 1852.

This was a very interesting charity, certainly, and un-
less it was developing an evil influence in some direction,
which is not evident to the casual observer, it is greatly
to be regretted that it should ever have been abandoned,
and should not have been placed upon a permanent basis.
In the following article you have another example of those
deaths from destitution, so frequent in England :

"ANOTHER DEATH FROM STARVATION.

Late on Friday evening an inquest was held by Mr. Baker,
at the Black Horse public house, Kingsland, on the body of
Eliza Green way, aged 24, who died in the infirmary of Shore-
ditch Workhouse under very distressing circumstances. Several
witnesses showed that the deceased was discovered a few yards
from the Eagle Tavern (Grecian Saloon), City road, which is
situated just by the boundary marks of the parishes of St. Luke
and St. Leonard, Shoreditch. She was taken to the work-
34* 2a

402 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

house of the former parish by a police-constable, where they
refused to take her in. This would not have occurred at the
Refuge of the Leicester Square Soup-kitchen. The officers
then conveyed her to the workhouse of Shoreditch, where she
was admitted directly, seen by the surgeon, and placed in bed.
She then became sensible, and stated that she lived in Long
lane. Smithfield. She had received continued ill-treatment,
which induced her to run away from the house and wander the
public streets in a state of starvation until relieved by the
police officer. The unfortunate creature, after having become
the victim of the most heartless villany, closed, on Wednesday
last, her wretched career of disgrace, penury, and destitution. "
— Observer, December 15th, 1851

From the next extract you will learn something of the
manner in which the poor of the metropolis are sometimes
lodged ; and with its aid you will have presented for your
contemplation another aspect of the subject which we are
considering.

"THE COMMON LODGING-HOUSES IN ST. GILES'S.

Daniel Collins, John Leary, John Sullivan, Daniel Kirby,
Michael Sullivan, and Johanna Barry, appeared upon an ad-
journed summons charging them with taking in lodgers at 21
Church lane, St. Giles's, the house not being approved for that
purpose by the officer appointed by the local authority, in pur-
suance of the provisions of the Common Lodging-Houses Act
passed last session.

Inspector Reeves said, that on visiting the house, in the first
room he found a man, his wife, and three children, a boy thir-
teen years old, and a girl aged fifteen years, and a man, his
wife, and three girls. There was only one bedstead in the
room, and no division of the sexes. The room ought to have
contained only nine persons. The next two rooms were occu-
pied each by a family. In the fourth room, kept by Kirby,
there were a man, his wife, and three children, two females,
and another family of four. The occupier of the next room
complied with the regulations, but in that occupied by Michael
Sullivan there were four families, in all twelve people. The
other rooms were equally overcrowded, notwithstanding the
warning which the keepers had received, and the whole house
was in a most filthy and pestilential condition.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

403

William Parker, landlord of the Robin Hood, who let the
rooms to the defendants, said that he paid .£25 a year rent for
the house to Mr. Thomas Grant, of Barnet, the owner of the
house. He received about 23s. a week from the defendants,
in sums varying from 2s. to 4s. a week. There was only one
water-closet for the use of all the lodgers, and there was no
water laid on, because the Commissioners of Sewers had un-
dertaken to lay it on, and had not done so.

Mr. Reeves said the commissioners consented to supply water
out of compassion, to relieve the necessities of the lodgers.

Mr. Henry said the defendants could be got rid of at once,
and as the law was stringent upon the subject, such an abomi-
nable system should be speedily removed.

Parker stated that the expense of water was included in the
rent, and it could be obtained at the back of his public house,
though without passing through it. He had twenty-five tenants
in another house, who had the privilege of obtaining water
from his place.

Mr. Henry said it was clear that Parker was responsible for
the house being in such a condition, principally on account of
the exorbitant rent he received from the defendants. He should
not impose any fine on the present occasion, but he should
call upon the witness, as well as the defendants, to sign a written
agreement, undertaking in the first place, to have the house
registered, and in the next, to act up to the regulations with
regard to the number of lodgers in each room. The object
of the recent act was to protect the poorer classes from impo-
sition. He recommended Parker to be more cautious in future,
or he might find the license of his public house in jeopardy.

An agreement having been drawn up and signed, the sum-
monses were adjourned for a month."* — Observer, May 3d,
1852.

The next two extracts present you with one of the
most touching and affecting cases with which you have
ever met ; and one which serves, in an eminent degree,
to illustrate the character and extent of the suffering,
both physical and mental, to which a large proportion of
the people of this kingdom are subject.

* See App., D., as to the provision Tvhich is made for the lodgirigs of
slaves.

404

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

" ATTEMPT OF TWO MAIDEN LADIES TO COMMIT SUICIDE.

A most extraordinary and painful case, in which a fatal
termination was averted by the prompt humanity of the parties
concerned, has taken place in Marylebone. It appears that
about a month since two ladies of respectable appearance and
highly superior manners, named Harriet and Julia Sharpley,
engaged a back attic at Mrs. Turner's, 41 Adam street, Edge-
ware road. They paid the rent regularly, and went out
together every day for the first fortnight, and their appearance,
though melancholy, denoted that they had seen better days.
A fortnight since last Wednesday they had ceased to leave
their room, which was kept locked. The woman in the adjoin-
ing room expressed her conviction that they had no food, as
she never heard the sound of a plate, knife, or fork. On Wed-
nesday, the 8th instant, Mrs. Turner, the landlady, in order to
learn the cause of their non-appearance, knocked at the room,
and one of the ladies replied that she would open the door in
the evening. In the evening she was admitted, and they ap-
peared in a most emaciated state, but would not admit that
they wanted food. She brought them some tea, and some
bread and butter. They thanked her for her kindness, but
declined taking it. She, however, insisted on leaving it.
Feeling her position delicate, she did not disturb them until
Wednesday last, when a lodger in the next room told her that
she heard moans in the back attic. On this she informed the
parochial authorities, and Mr. Collett, an out-door inspector
of the poor, proceeded to the place, and found the two sisters
lying on the bed dressed, and locked in each other's arms.
They were both sensible, but so weak, that they could not
stand, and one of them fainted in Mr. Collett's arms, as he
attempted to raise her. He at once administered brandy and
wine mixed with water, and stimulants and nourishment were
administered by force, as they were either unwilling or too
weak to take them. They rallied a little ; and on Thursday
were removed to the workhouse in a cab. They expressed the
utmost horror at going to the ' Union,' and one of them was so
affected during the removal, that it was thought she would
have died. They were, however, placed there under medical
care, both seeming heart-broken at their position. It appears
that the unfortuuate ladies, the eldest of whom is 41 years of
age, and the youngest 39, have an aged father and mother,

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

405

reduced from affluence to live with some relative in a small
cottage at Sinefield, near Slough. Their father formerly kept
a large school in the vicinity of Windsor. His unfortunate
daughters were educated as governesses, but being unable to
obtain employment, and their parents being unable to support
them, they came to London to seek needlework, by which
means they hoped to maintain themselves. They were unsuc-
cessful, and their slender means becoming exhausted, they re-
solved, rather than be a burden to their parents, or to bring
disgrace on their family by applying for relief, to starve together.
They still remain in the Marylebone Infirmary, and object to
take food. The condition of their. apartment was perfectly
cleanly, and it has been ascertained that the only drink they
had for more than a fortnight was the drippings of the pipe
from the roof of the house." — Observer, September 20th, 1852.

As you are probably interested in the fate of these un-
fortunate ladies, I will add here that, some months subse-
quently, at a meeting of the Directors and Guardians of
the Poor, a letter from these ladies was read; which you
will find referred to below :

"THE LATE ATTEMPTED VOLUNTARY STARVATION AT
MARYLEBONE.

On Saturday, at the weekly meeting of the Directors and
Guardians of the Poor of St. Marylebone, held in the board
room of the workhouse, Newroad, Mr. Jacob Bell in the chair,
a letter was read from the Misses Sharpley, the two maiden
ladies whose case, it will be remembered, excited, some few
months back, a great amount of sympathy and interest on
account of their determined attempt to commit self-destruction
by voluntary starvation. The communication was a demand
for parochial relief ; and the letter stated that they (the Misses
Sharpley) had used their best endeavors to maintain them-
selves by doing Berlin wool and crochet work, but that it had
proved an utter failure. They expressed their determination
to refuse to return to their place of settlement, to which they
had been passed by the parish of Marylebone, namely Slough,
near Windsor ; and hinted that, sooner than do so, they were
determined to die together. It will be remembered that the
Board of Guardians of Marylebone had, at the time the Misses

406 TEE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Sliarpley made an attempt at self destruction, sums of money
forwarded to the workhouse by several benevolent individuals,
and, in consequence of the flat refusal on their part to receive
a fraction in the shape of charity, the sums seut by persons
whose addresses were known were returned. The Board have,
however, about £16 still in hand ; but it is understood that the
Misses Sliarpley still refuse to receive anything in the shape
of charity from any one. The Board directed the matter to
be referred to Mr. Messer, the relieving officer, to be dealt with
in the usual way.'- — Observer, July Uh, 1853.

I hope, dear Major, that the interest you have taken in
the matter contained in this letter has prevented you from
observing its great length, and that you have not been
impatiently waiting to hear that I am, as ever,
Eespectfully,

Your friend and cousin,
To Max J. Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

407

LETTER XLI.

DISTRESS AND DESTITUTION IN THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS
OF ENGLAND — ADVENTURE OF DR\ JONES AND HIS SERVANT
ON THE ROAD FROM LONDON TO GRAVESEND J IN WHICH
BUCK EMULATES THE CHARACTER OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

London, May 4th, 185-1.

Dear Major : — In the autumn of 1852, I made an ex-
cursion into some of the agricultural districts in several
parts of England. On that tour, I saw enough to con-
vince me that poverty, and consequent suffering, were by
no means confined to the manufacturing districts, or to
the metropolis. Indeed, I found that London was re-
garded as affording resources to which the laborer might
resort for employment when he was unable to find it in
the country, and in the line of pursuits to which he was
most accustomed. I found that thousands, who had been
employed during the spring and summer months, were
now destitute of the means of support ; and that, before
them, the approaching winter months presented a pros-
pect of want and suffering for themselves and families.
Others among the class of agricultural laborers were
earning a subsistence just sufficient to keep soul and body
together, but not enough " to keep the wolf from the door 1
of their miserable cottages.

It is a fact, Major, that thousands of these laborers
upon the estates of large (and liberal, too, many of them)
landed proprietors, are earning not more than six or seven
shillings per week. Out of this has to be paid at least
one shilling for rent, and another for coal. This leaves
four or five shillings (or say, one dollar and twenty-five
cents) ; out of which the week's supply of food and cloth-
ing for the whole family must necessarily come. That
family frequently consists of husband, wife, and seven or
eight small children. The coal consumed is nearly all

408

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

used in cooking, and none can be spared for purposes of
warmth. The food is chiefly brown bread. You can
easily see that, without fuel, with limited and meagre diet,
which affords but little warmth during the long and bitter
winter nights, there is not much sleep for these poor crea-
tures ; and that the wail of woe which (according to the
" London Times ") is so often uttered by the wretched
little children of the ragged-schools, is taken up by many
a group of shivering little ones in these rural districts,
and the deep stillness of the winter night is broken by
the agonizing cry, " Bread, bread ! we cannot sleep for
hunger." *

What is to be said for the comfort of the parents,
themselves cramped with inanition and cold, who listen to
this appeal? Is it any wonder that lunatic asylums
swarm with inmates in a land where such things be ?

Of the extent to which such destitution as I have been
describing exists, even in the counties nearest to London,
you may form some opinion from the following, which is
one of the reports made by the superintendent of the
Leicester Square Soup Kitchen, in the beginning of the
year 1853.

" LEICESTER SQUARE SOUP-KITCHEN AND HOSPICE.

The good which has been done by this beneficent institution
is incalculable. It has fed the hungry, and filled the poor
with good things, in this the most dangerous, as well as the
most rigorous season of the year. No fewer than 23,759
wretched creatures have actually been kept from starvation by
its agency in the past month, a great proportion of which were
the most helpless of all human beings in a great city — namely,
agricultural laborers and their families. Society, therefore,
owes this establishment the most munificent support, and espe-
cially that portion of it comprehended under the title of coun-
try gentlemen. Let it never be forgotten, however, that the
assistance given to the necessitous and the starving is in the
nature of a loan made to Heaven, and that in no instance
could such aid meet more effectual application to human relief
than in this establishment.

A vast number of agricultural and field laborers still visit
* See Appendix, J.

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

409

the kitchen, several of whom, after having unsuccessfully sought
for employment in and round London, have again visited the
institution, begging for food to sustain them, in their efforts
to procure work elsewhere, or to strengthen them on their re-
turn homewards ; others have been overheard to express to
one another their inclination to steal the first thing they came
across, merely for the comfort of a prison for a short time.
Workhouses they appear to abhor, preferring to starve or
steal, rather than enter within the union doors, plainly show-
ing the difference of treatment and food towards the felon and
the recipient of parochial bounty.

There is a large number of able-bodied lads willing to be
shipped for sea service, if we had only the means of sending
them to sea. Robert Crate, Superintendent.'''

Ham- Yard, Feb. 5, 1853.

[Observer, February 14th, 1853.

It was shortly after the period to which I have above
referred, and in the month of November, 1852, that I
went down to Gravesend, for the purpose of seeing some
of the gardens (they make the finest asparagus there in
the world, perhaps) in that vicinity, and of learning some-
what, it might be, of their mode of horticulture. Graves-
end is on the Thames, some twenty miles below London ;
and to visit it, I employed a private conveyance sufficient
for Buck and myself.

A few miles frem London, and between that city and
Dartford, we saw approaching us, and coming from the
direction of the latter place, two women, who were moving
very slowly, one of them being occasionally assisted by
the other. I was about to pass them, when something in
the appearance of one of these women arrested my atten-
tion, and induced me to call a halt and speak to her.

" My good woman," said I, " you seem to be suffering."

The woman, overcome, apparently, by this unexpected
expression of sympathy, stopped, looked into my face
steadily, and burst into tears.

" See here," said she ; " this child is but a few hours
old." And she took from some sort of a dingy and
ragged wrapper, and held up to our astonished gaze, a
perfectly naked, newly-born babe ; and then she sat down
35

410

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD \ OR,

upon a bank on the roadside, the picture of outcast and
forlorn desolation.

" Gracious heavens !" said I, " what is your meaning ?"

" My child has been but a little while born," said she,
crying as if she would break her heart, " and I have no
where to go with it, and nothing for myself or it."

I was fairly stunned by the whole thing, Major ; and
could scarcely collect my senses sufficiently to realize
what I heard and saw. But Buck comprehended, and
had already sprung to the ground, opened his carpet-bag,
and whipped out a flannel shirt, which he rapidly ripped,
split, and tied with strips from one of his handkerchiefs,
so as to convert it into a covering for the child, with
which he gently aided the mother to envelop it. He then
commenced to select other portions of his clothing, when
I stopped " him, and told him to give her the blanket
which we had brought along as a wrapper for our feet,
together with one or two other articles, which I desig-
nated, and which would do for her until she could pro-
cure other appliances.

When this had been done, Buck sat down by the wo-
man, looked kindly at her, and laid his coarse hand softly
on the baby, whilst the tears streamed from his eyes.

"An you haint got no home?" said he, presently.

" None, none," said the woman ; "not a place to lay
my head on, and no food, no food. I did not care so much
for myself until this child was born ; but now I feel that
it's worse than a thousand deaths of my own to see it die
of hunger." '4

"Poor crittur* poor crittur !" ^said Buck; and I am
sure I don't know which wept the most bitterly over that
unconscious baby — Buck or its mother.

" Where do you come from," said I, " and where are
you going?"

"I came from Gravesend," said she. "My husband
and I followed the road, sometimes begging, and some-
times doing chores about, until he died, several months
ag<^ Since then, I continued on the tramp. I was on
my way from Gravesend to London, and near Dartford,
when, having no money to pay for a lodging, I crept,
without being seen, into a barn, as night came on. Worn

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

411

down with weariness and hunger, I could not sleep, but
grew very sick ; which hastened my confinement, I sup-
pose, and about two or three o'clock in the morning, my
child was born."

"An you all alone by yourself, poor 'oman ?" said
Buck.

" Yes."

" Oh, my God," said he, fairly convulsed with emotion,
"thy ways are past findin out — help me to be thankful
for my blessins."

" I was alone," said the woman, "until this morning;
when a dog came, and seeing me, ran out and barked.
This brought a man to the spot, who said he was the
owner of the place. He ordered me to leave, and I had
it to do."

" But you didn't tell him your sitiwation, surely," said
Buck. "You didn't show him your baby — say you
didn't!"

" Yes I did, though ; and he told me that, if he gave
shelter to every houseless woman that chose to come and
litter in his barn, he would soon be overrun with all the
trampers in England. I felt that there was a great deal
of truth in what he said, and I crawled out and got away
as well as I could."

"God be thanked, Marster," said Buck, "that we
haint got to live in a country whar poor critturs gits so
use to sich conduct tell they don't complain of it !"

" I then went to Dartford workhouse," continued the
woman.

" How furr ?" said Buck.

"About two miles, I think. I knocked at the gate, and
a keeper came out. I told him my condition, but he
would not let me in."

"Poor thing! Did you show him your baby, too?"
said Buck.

" I did, but he told me to be off — that I did not belong
there, and could not be admitted ; and he closed the gate
on me. I turned towards London, and struggled alpng ;
for now my baby was suffering, and I was anxious to save
it from dying, if I could. I felt, though, as if I should
faint and fall every minute; and was just about giving

412

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

up, when this good woman overtook me on the road.
She, too, was on her way to London. I told her my story,
and that I was unable to proceed. She took me into an
ale-house, and, though she herself seems to be poor, she
bought for me a little bread and meat, and a pint of beer.
This has strengthened me a bit, and I hope to reach Lon-
don ; but what to do after I get there, is more than I can
tell. I give you a thousand thanks, sir," said she to me;
" and as for this black man, I am sure I can never thank
him enough for his kindness to me and my baby." And
rising, she shook Buck warmly by the hand.

I gave the woman some directions as to the method of
getting assistance at one of the workhouses, but advised
her to stop at the nearest place where she could get ad-
mittance until she was stronger, added something besides
advice, and we parted. Some time afterwards, I clipped
the following reference to her from one of the journals.
She had found shelter and relief, it seems, at one of the
London unions.

"CAN THIS BE TRUE?

Mr. Elliott, registrar of births and deaths of the Borough-
road sub-district, appends the following note to his last re-
turn:— 'At the workhouse, on the 11th inst,, the nurse in the
lying-in-ward directed my attention to a woman with an infant,
saying, ' I suppose you cannot register the child, as it was not
born here.' I inquired of the woman where the child was
born, and she made the following statement, which I give in
her own words : — 'My name is Eliza Hayes, twenty-five years
old. My husband has been four months dead. I was on tramp
on the 1st of November near Dartford. I came from Graves-
end. I had no money, and could not get a lodging. I lay
down in a barn between seven and eight o'clock. During the
night I was taken very ill, and delivered myself of a female
child, about two or three o'clock in the morning. In the
morning a man came and said I must turn out. I went to
the Dartford Union. I think it was two miles oft*. I knocked
at the gate, and a man came. I told him what had happened
to me, and showed him the baby, naked. He said he could
not take me in, and said that it was of no use for me to wait
there ; he shut the gate, and I came along the road. A poor
travelling woman overtook me. I told her all about it. I

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

413

said to her, 'I am not able to go along,' and she took me into
a beer-shop and gave me a piece of bread and meat, and a
pint of beer ; that brought me along the road, and she and I
came into London together. She directed me to this work-
house, and I was taken in dripping wet ; it had rained hard
all the way.' " — Weekly Dispatch, November 21s£, 1852.

I find it necessary to end this letter here ; and must
forthwith assure you, Major, that I am,
Very respectfully,

Your friend and cousin,
P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones, Pineville, Geo.,

U. S. of America.

LETTEE XLIL

BUCK WITNESSES A MEETING BETWEEN ST. JAMES, AND ST.
GILES, IN WHICH THE LATTER, AS USUAL, IS MADE TO TAKE
THE KENNEL — EXTENT OP DESTITUTION IN THE METROPO-
LIS AND ITS VICINITY — DEATH PROM STARVATION, AND
SHOCKING DESTITUTION ANOTHER DEATH PROM DESTITU-
TION— DISTRESSING PICTURE OP DEGRADATION AND DESTI-
TUTION.

London, May 9th, 1851.

Dear Major : — One evening, in the month of January,
1853, my servant returned from a ramble into Hyde
Park. "When I had settled down in my room for the
night, and he had brought my dressing-gown and slip-
pers, stirred up the fire, and made everything snug and
comfortable, he proceeded to unfold his budget of news,
as was frequently his custom. Among other things, he
related an affair which he had witnessed just before re-
turning homewards. I prefer to give you the adventure
as nearly in his own words as possible, as the simplicity
with which he expresses himself sometimes serves to ren-
der his narrative amusing.
35*

414

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD * OR,

"I was passin 'long, Marster," said he, "jest 'bout as
hit was gittin dark like, an not thinkin nothin of no fuss,
an nothin at all, an first thing I knowed, I seed two men
a little ways 'fore me, — sorter wagabon-lookin fellers they
was, — an one on urn, says he, 'Hell-fire!' says he; 'what
are yer doin thar, Jack ? Why don't yer come along r
says he.

I looked at tother one on 'urn, an he was gwine on the
curosest ever I seed. He was sorter standin half bent
down like, with his hands on his knees, an peepin through
the area gratins, as ef he was tryin to see through a win-
der in the house, an snuffin up the ar that come out of a
kitchen winder with all his might. Then he tuk up his
hands from his knees, an put 'um up to his seedy ole hat,
an sorter mashed hit down like, he did, an made motions
with his fists, as ef at somebody in the house.

' What the devil are yer squarin at thar ?' says tother
wagabon. ' Why don't yer come along, I say ?' says he.

' I say, Bill, thar's a mort a dinner gwine on here for
these 'ristocrats. Jest smell it,' says he; an I could hear
him sniffle, Marster, clean to whar I stood. ' Thar's 'nuff
gwine up thar,' says he, 'to feed us a week, an here
am I a starvin. I'm blowed ef I stand it,' says he. ' Hit's
'nuff to make a man cuss God an die,' says he, jest so.

'Yer had better come 'long,' says tother; 'are yer
crazy ?'

' Yes, I'm crazy, Bill — crazy,' says he, smashin his hat
down agin, ' crazy to think that these here people's got
more than they wants, whul I'm a dyin for bread,' says
he, ' an don't know whar to git it. I'm blowed ef I stand
it, I say. I'll have some on it, ef I die for it.'

' Jest yer come along, I say,' says tother.

But no ; the man went up to the door of the house, an
beat hit with his fist, an pulled the bell, all at same time,
an tried to open hit. Tother man went an tried to git
him away, but he couldn't. Bomby a 'oman, she come
to the door, an opened hit a little, an when she saw the
man, she slammed hit to, quick as she could. The man
tried to perwent her, but she was too quick for him. Im-
mediently afterwards, a fine ole gen'l'man come to the

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

415

door, an opened it, an says, says he, 'What do you want?'
says he.

* Somethin to eat,' says the man. ' I'm starvin, an must
die ef I don't git somethin soon,' says he.

Then the gen'l'man spoke up high, an says, says he,
'Go away, teller,' says he, ' I've no food for you. Be off,'
says he.

But the wagabon wouldn't, an looked mighty stubborn.

' Go away, I tell you, or I shall give you into custody,'
says the gen'l'man. 1 1 will send for the pleece immedi-
ently,' says he, ' unless you leave.'

1 You an the pleece may both go to hell !' says the wa-
gabon. 1 What does a man in my sitiwation care for
pleece ? Give me some food, I tell you.'

* I shall do no sich thing,' says the gen'l'man. *■ Leave,
feller!'

1 I'm damned ef I do,' says the man, jest so; an then
he tried to shove by the gen'l'man, who perwented him,
an the wagaben fired away, an gin him fits, in little or
no time, I tell you, Marster. He soon made the blood
fly. Then the women of the house, they sot up sich a
hellabaloo, an screamed an yelled so, that the pleece come
runnin up immediently, sure enough, an tuk the man
away. 'Fore they got thar, tother man, he run off, I
bleeve — leastwise, I didn't see him any more. When they
was carryin off the wagabon, I heerd him say, 1 Leave go
your grip upon my throat, sargeant ; I'm weak arter this
little skrimmage, for I haint had a mouthful to eat sense
yesterday,' says he. ' I thought to git somethin here,'
says he, ' from this ole nob ; but his heart was reglar hard,'
says he. 'Well, anyhow,' says he, very sulky like, ' ef
I didn't taste his beef, I drawed some of his claret,' says
he."

" Where were you all this time ?" said I.

Buck. " JSTot fur off, but sorter skreened from sight
like. An I kep close tell everything was quiet, for fear I
might be tuk up upon spishun that I blonged with the
wagabon. Fact is, though, Marster, I was mighty sorry
for the feller, YvThen I come to think 'bout it. The man
was raal hongry, Marster, I do bleeve, an sorter got des-
prate when the smell o' them good vitels come steamin up

416 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ; OR,

through the gratin. Ef he hadn't had anything to eat
all day, — an he looked like he hadn't, — an ef he didn't
have no place to go to git none, hit was mighty aggra-
watin, sartain, jest at that time to ketch the smell o' that
roast beef. The Lord save me from sich a temtation !"
Myself. "Amen."

Buck. " Tell you what was sorter try in to the poor
feller, too, Marster. When that ole gen'l'man come to
the door, he come sorter suckin his teeth, like people gin-
erly does, you know, Marster, when they's jest got up
from table ; an he looked comftable an satisfied, like any-
body does who has a good dinner waitin on him ; an when
I come to think 'bout it, I didn't wonder that, when he
wouldn't give that poor Jiongry feller nothin, he got per-
woked in his mind, an sorter felt like people an Provi-
denee was both powerful hard upon him. Well, hit's all
right, I spose, Marster; but I can't onderstand it. To
save my life, I can't onderstand how hit is, that in a
country like this, whar thar's so many great rich people,
same time thar should be so many poor ones. Howbeever,
maybe hit's becase a few's got so powerful much, Marster,
that thar's not 'nufF left for the balance. Don't you think
so, Marster ?"

Myself. 11 You have the true reason, I suspect, Buck.
St. James takes the lion's share here, I am afraid, and St.
Giles must needs make a starve of it."

Buck. " Was that what the names of them people was,
sir?"

Myself. 11 Not that I know of, Buck ; but I am sure
that, when those two men met at that door, they might
very well have stood for the picture of the characters I
have named. Then, certainly, in the language of the
' Times,' was ' the extreme of destitution and despair face
to face with the extreme of luxury and physical enjoy-
ment.' I hope, indeed, that the violence which on this
occasion transpired may not prove typical of what shall
occur when St. James and St. Giles shall some time meet
again ; for in that event, if the latter should happen to
have a sufficient following at his back, those other words
of that celebrated journal may come to pass, and ' this

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

417

disorder and wrong will result very calamitously to the
entire social system.' "

A day or two after the above conversation, I noticed
the following article in the morning's paper, which I sus-
pected referred to the same transaction which my servant
had witnessed :

"ASSAULT ON A MILITARY OFFICER.

At the Marylebone court, on Tuesday, John Welch, a de-
termined-looking- fellow, who said he was a laborer, was
charged before Mr. Broughton with having assaulted Colonel
Tovey, of 54, Cambridge-terrace, Hyde Park. The colonel,
whose left eye was blackened and much swollen, said that on
the previous evening, between seven and eight o'clock, whilst
sitting at his dinner, two of his female servants rushed into
the room in a fright, and told him two men were at the front
door trying to force their way in. He directly rose and went
to the door, and saw defendant standing there ; he told him if
he did not go away he would send for the police. The pri-
soner said, in a determined tone, 1 I'm starving, and relief I
must have.' He told him he would give him into custody,
when the prisoner told him that the 1 police and he might go
to a certain place.' He then told him to quit, and saw he
had something in his hand, and meant to act. The prisoner
struck witness several tremendous blows on the left eye, and
was given into custody. Defendant, in his defence, said he
called to ask for a ticket for the 'night refuge,' which was
denied. Mr. Broughton committed him to the House of Cor-
rection for two months." — Observer, January 21th, 1853.

And now, what will you think of the happiness of this
country, or its destiny, when you are told, as in the fol-
lowing article, that there were, during the year immedi-
ately preceding this time, a quarter of a million of human
beings, in and about London, in the same condition with
this unhappy pauper ?

" It is the fashion to decry the conduct of the poor, because
to do so saves the pocket of the rich — who, of course, could
not think of bestowing pecuniary aid upon immoral persons,
&c. ; but the report of the committee under notice tells an-
other and different tale of these unhappy creatures, as a refe-
* 2b

418

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

rence to the fifth paragraph will prove. In the entire mass
of human misery above adverted to — a quarter of a million of
men, women, and children, every man, woman, and child of
whom, when he or she rose on any morning, knew not whether
a meal of food was to be had during the whole ' weary day,'
— there was not one case of misconduct as far as the society
was concerned ; nay, not one failed in that rarest of all virtues
in a high state of civilization, gratitude for the kindness and
hospitality which was shown. Furthermore, in no single in-
stance has the least outrage against the law, however trifling,
been traceable to any of the recipients of the daily dole be-
stowed by this praiseworthy institution." — Observer, Decem-
ber, 1852.

During the same winter, many cases of heart-rending
destitution were brought to my attention. Among the
rest was the following, which is so distressing that I can
with difficulty comment upon it ; and I hesitate to linger
over it until I can call your attention to that which must
impress us (who have been so long looking behind the
scenes where the great drama of English life is being en-
acted) as a horrible piece of acting on the part of the
coroner and jury, who protest that " it was most distress-
ing that a poor woman should perish in such a way, when
there were so many means of getting relief."

"DEATH FROM STARVATION — SHOCKING DESTITUTION.

On Friday evening Mr. W. Baker, the coroner, held an in-
quest at the William the Fourth, public house, New Gravel
lane, Shadwell, on view of the emaciated body of Mary Sandry,
aged 43 years, who died from starvation in an empty room,
situated at No. 1 Cow lane, Shadwell.

It appeared from the evidence that the deceased was the
wife of a laboring man, who, with five young children, came
from Ireland two months since, with a few shillings, which the
man expended in purchasing a small stock of braces. The
family, seven in number, took the room in Cow lane, for which
they were to pay Is. dd. per week. The man hawked the
braces about the streets and public-houses since his arrival in
London, and although his wife and children were without food
and money he never applied for relief. On Monday morning
last a female lodger asked the eldest child how the deceased

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

419

was, as she had heard her coughing all the previous night.
The child said her mother was dying, and requested the lodger
to come and see her. The female did so, and was astonished to
find that the deceased was lying on a small heap of straw
without the slightest covering. The room was completely
destitute of furniture, firing, or food. The lodger asked her
why she and her children had remained in such a fearful state
so long, when the deceased replied, ' Oh pray do not look at
my poverty, but try and get me a doctor.' The female ran to
the house of Mr. Sargeant, the relieving-officer of Shad well,
who was' from home. In the meanwhile the deceased grew
worse, and before any medical assistance could be obtained the
unfortunate woman expired. Mr. Sargeant attended at 6
o'clock in the evening, and when he found the deceased dead
he expressed his regret that his aid had not been called sooner.
The officer immediately gave an order for the children and
father to be supplied with bread, meat, oatmeal, a blanket, and
a bed, as the children were sitting on the bare flooring, crying
from hunger and cold, by the side of the mother's dead body.

The coroner, and the whole of the jury, said they never
heard of such a dreadful case of destitution, and it was most
distressing that a poor woman should perish in such a way,
when there were so many means of getting relief.

The husband said, in answer to the coroner, that he did not
apply for assistance, because he thought they would send him
and his family back to Ireland. The whole of them had sub-
sisted during the two months on the profit they made on the
5s. worth of braces.

Mr. Thomas Peete, the surgeon, said the deceased died from
starvation and exposure to the cold. He never met with such
a dreadful case of poverty.

The coroner and jury were of opinion that the father and
five children ought to be immediately removed to the work-
house, until something could be done for them.

Yerdict — 'Natural death, accelerated by extreme want and
destitution.'" — Weekly Dispatch, February 6th, 1853.

During the past year, I was made acquainted with the
following case. It is even more painful than the last, if
that be possible.

''DEATH from destitution.

On Wednesday, Mr. Brent held an inquest at the Cheshire
Cheese, Mount Pleasant, Gray's Inn lane, on Elizabeth Julia

420 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

Creed, the illegitimate daughter of a seamstress, who perished
from want, under the following distressing circumstances :
Harriet Creed, the mother, who was the very impersonation
of the most dire destitution, stated that she gave birth to the
deceased at 15 Wilson street, Clerkenwell, where, with another
poor woman who attended her, she was allowed to remain by
the kindness of Mrs. Blanch, the landlady, for six weeks,
although she paid no rent. The only subsistence she had
during the period was supplied by her landlady, and by the
exertions of the nurse, who went about collecting what she
could for her. At the expiration of the six weeks she was
compelled to leave the lodging amidst showers of rain, and
wandered with her infant in her arms, in all directions, until
seven o'clock the following morning, when she found herself
in Holloway, where some laboring people, compassionating
her condition, allowed her to sleep in their apartment a few
hours, after which, herself and infant, who were wriuging wet,
had again to turn out amidst torrents of rain, and thus she
wandered until night, when, arriving at Mr. Braithwaite's,
grocer, Britannia row, Islington, he mercifully took them in,
and allowed them to sleep in his house that night. The next
morning the infant's eyes were sunk in her head, and as she
aypeared to be dying, Mr. Braithwaite sent her to Mr. Gill,
the parochial surgeon, who gave her an order to enter the
workhouse. On her way a woman advised her not to go to
that workhouse, but to St. Pancras workhouse, which she ac-
cordingly did, and there obtained an order to see a medical
man, who could not be seen until the following morning ; upon
which she renewed her wanderings until night, when she suc-
ceeded in hiring an empty room, at 4 Mount pleasant, where,
huddled in their damp rags, they slept on the bare boards until
morning, when, upon awaking, she found her infant dead in
her arms. While herself and infant wandered in the streets
they had no food, and both were nearly naked. She (the
mother) had not a shoe to her foot. Mrs. Blanch, whose hu-
manity was highly eulogized, and Mary Fitz, the nurse, fully
corroborated the mother's pitiable tale. After the examina-
tion of several other witnesses the jury returned the following
verdict : 1 Deceased died from want and exposure ; and the
jury deem the mother very culpable in not having at once
obeyed Mr. Gill's directions to proceed to the Islington work-
house with her infant,' The jury highly lauded Mr. Braithwaite
for having given a shelter and a bed to the wretched mother
and her dying offspring." — Observer, September 12th, 1853.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

421

I feel that, in mercy to you, Major, I should not con-
tinue this fearful catalogue of the victims " of an unsound
social system." I will bring it to a close with one more
case only :

"police intelligence. — Saturday, Dec. 31.

Mansion House. — Catherine Bishop and Elizabeth Castle
were charged before Alderman Humphrey with having stolen
a duck. The case excited some interest in consequence of the
alleged refusal of a relieving officer to afford relief to the
family of the former prisoner in de^p distress. Lawson, the
beadle, of Leadenhall Market, said : My attention was called
by a salesman to Bishop, who had stolen off a stall a fowl,
which he had made her put back. I watched her for about
ten minutes, and I saw her with Castle, and followed them
through the market. I fancied I saw her take something from
the stall of Mr. Gill, and in Grace-church street, Bishop passed
a duck to Castle. I then took them into custody.

William Clayton, 529 : I was called to take Bishop to the
station-house. She was intoxicated. At the station-house
she told the inspector she had four children locked up in her
room in Bushby court, Thomas street, Brick-lane, and that
nobody was with them. It was then eleven o'clock at night.
I was directed by the inspector to see whether her statement
was true. She gave me the key of the room, and I witnessed
a miserable scene of distress. Bishop was stated to me to be
a woman of bad character, and to have been in custody before
for intoxication and pilfering. I went to the relieving officer
of the Bethnal Green Union, and told him that I was directed
by the inspector to make known to him that there were four
poor children locked up in a room, that the mother was in cus-
tody, and, by her account, the father had deserted the family
for some time. He told me to tell the inspector that he was
no policeman, and that he was not to be called up at that hour.
I said it was an urgent case, as one of the children was only
eight months old. He told me if it was only eight days old,
he would have nothing to do with it ; that I might lock them
all up, and that he would not be bothered. I told him if he
was a man possessed of any feeling, he would treat the case
differently. He asked me how I dared to insult him by a re-
mark of that kind, and that I was No. 529. I said the case
would be brought before the Lord Mayor, and that it would
be my duty to make the remarks he had made known to his
36

422

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

lordship. He told me to tell the Lord Mayor to trouble his
bead about city business, and not about his. He then shut the
door, and I returned to the house where the children were,
accompanied by the inspector and a woman who had informed
me about the poor family. When we went into the room, in
which there appeared to be nothing but a broken table and a
broken chair, we looked about, but saw no children ; but in a
corner where appeared to be an old bedstead, we beheld a
lump of filthy rags, and there lay the four children fast asleep.
They were covered with vermin. I learned from the woman
who accompanied me that they had no food the whole day.
Of course I made the best arrangement I could, by the direc-
tion of the inspector, for the protection of the children. The
woman undertook to take care of them, was supplied by me
with money, and properly attended to them. They seized the
bread that was put before them, and voraciously devoured it.
They are all under seven years old.

Alderman Humphrey : Why, they might have been all dead
in the morning. He then sentenced the prisoner to twenty-one
days in Holloway New Prison, and said the poor children must
be taken to the union, and if the relieving officer of Bethnal
Green refused to take care of them, let him be summoned to
Worship street Police Court, where he knew the magistrate
would deal with him as he ought to be dealt with. He highly
commended the conduct of the constable, and ordered his
expenses to be paid." — Observer, Jan. 2d, 1854.

In this police report, you will find several circum-
stances which serve to characterize certain features of
society in this country. First, the abandoned and gin-
besotted mother, pilfering for the relief of her starving
children. Then, those poor starving wretches of children,
covered with vermin, and exhausted by want of food, in
their only home, " a room, with a broken table, a broken
chair, an old bedstead, and a bunch of filthy rags," for
hours and hours, intently watching the opening of that
locked door — the smaller ones screaming in frantic agony,
until the friendly torpor of inanition has deadened the
pangs of hunger. See how they seize the dry loaf, which
comes as a glorious vision to rouse their dimmed senses,
and devour it like wild animals ! Next, we have the com-
fortable official, hardened by constant contact with degra-
dation and suffering, untouched by the report of such cir-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

423

cumstances, and indifferent to the consequences. And in
contrast with him, we observe the more benevolent and
conscientious officers, who busily bestir themselves in
skinning over another of those wounds which society in
this country is perpetually inflicting upon itself.
Allow me to repeat that I am,

Very respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones.

Pineville, Ga.; U. S. of America.

LETTEE XLIII.

UNHAPPY MENTAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF A LARGE PRO-
PORTION OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE, AS SHOWN BY VARIOUS
FACTS, ESPECIALLY BY THE NUMBER OF LUNATICS AND
INSANE PERSONS, AND OF SUICIDES.

London, May 12th, 1854.

Dear Major : — "We have agreed that a general diffu-
sion of the material comforts of life among a people, and
a similar prevalence of mental and moral enjoyment,
afford, perhaps, the best evidence of the greatest happi-
ness of the greatest number; that they are the surest
signs of a nation's welfare and prosperity, and that the
absence of them among a people must result in degrada-
tion and suffering.

It has been comparatively easy for us to ascertain what
should be said of the British people as regards the pos-
session of the first of these elements of happiness. From
the very nature of the case, the evidence as to the other
is more intangible, and not so patent to the senses. Still,
when we are searching for such facts among the people
of a nation numbering its millions of inhabitants, and
perpetually contributing its millions of incidents and of
paragraphs to the history of human life, we may find it

424

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

possible to group and generalize such a number of these
facts as will enable us to approximate, at least, a solution
of such an inquiry.

The last Census Keport (which is my authority for the
statement) shows that, when the census was taken (say in
the year 1850), there were, in the various lunatic asy-
lums, and other institutions for the reception of the insane
in Great Britain, 18,803 persons; 8999 of whom were
males, and 9804 females ; and that the proportion which
the lunatics in such asylums bore to the whole population
is as 1 in every 1115.

Though I have endeavored to procure it, I have not
yet been able to obtain a table or summary of idiots,
lunatics, etc., in the several States of our Union, com-
piled from the United States Census of 1850 ; and I have
not time now to arrange one for myself. But I have one
prepared from the census of 1840 ; and, as it is a propor-
tion only which is material to this branch of the subject,
and that is as well shown by the census of 1840, I refer
to that for the following information :

The total number of population, then, in Georgia, was
691,392.* The total number of idiots and insane persons
was 428. Of the population, 407,695 were whites, and
283,697 were blacks, Of idiots and lunatics, 294 were
whites, and 134 blacks. Thus, it appears that there was
one idiot, or insane person, in every 1612 of the whole
population ; or one idiot, etc., in every 1386 of the whites,
and in every 2117 of the blacks.

The same report shows that the whole population of
Louisiana is 352,441; or 158,457 whites, and 193,954
blacks ; that the whole number of idiots and insane per-
sons was 100 ; or fifty-five whites and forty-five blacks ;
and that, as a consequence, there is one idiot or lunatic
in every 3524 of the whole population ; or one in every
2881 of the white population, and one in every 4310 of
the black population, f

The report from the other slave States is not so
strikingly favorable as that from Louisiana ; but you will
see what an immense advantage over that from Great

* "Statistical Companion," 1852, p. 137.
f Sec App., H.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

425

Britain it exhibits. By themselves, these things may not
be considered as conclusive ; but grouped with other facts,
they become wonderfully significant.

In the next place, I think that we are fully authorized
to infer that, in a country where so large a proportion of
the population are uneducated, intellectually, morally, or
religiously, as I have shown you is the case here, and
where crimes, and especially crimes of great atrocity,
abound as they have been shown, by figures and by facts,
to abound in this nation, the prevalence of moral, reli-
gious, or mental comfort, cannot be extensive.

In the same connection, I may add that the same con-
clusion is to be derived from what we have seen of the
frequent and prevailing violations of domestic relations
in this country, the shocking cruelties of husband to
wife, of wife to husband, of parent to child, and of child
to parent. It is unnecessary that I should argue, I am
sure, that, where the domestic relations are not only not
the sources of peace and pleasure among the homes of a
people, but where the most savage and sanguinary out-
rages of domestic comfort prevail, there can be no happi-
ness.

I refer in conclusion to one other class of facts, which
brings us to the same result ; and that is the number and
the character of the suicides committed in this country.
You have but to open almost any paper that I have sent
you, and you will find this exemplified.

As far back as the last century, we were told by an
English writer, that " the English have long been re-
proached by foreigners for the frequent commission of it,"
(suicide) " and ' the gloomy month of November' has been
stigmatized as the season when it is most common."
This writer ascribes its prevalence, either to " insanity or
vicious passion." Mercier, a French gentleman, who
wrote on the subject, in France, in 1782, ascribes its pre-
valence there " to poverty and oppression."

It is very plain to us, I think, who have been for some-
time observing the developments of society here, and
studying somewhat the motives and passions of this people,
that the prevalence of suicides (of such suicides as we
observe), is due to all the causes above assigned; viz.,
36*

426

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

poverty, oppression, insanity, and vicious passion — it
being understood that I use the word " oppression" in the
sense of cruel treatment, exercised by superiors upon their
immediate dependents, and not in a political sense. A
few examples will elucidate the subject. I can afford
room for a few only.

As instances of self-destruction caused by mental dis-
tress arising from the first of the influences above named ;
viz., poverty, or destitution, you may take the following
cases : and you will have no difficulty in seeing how it is
that this cause must aid in swelling the number of deaths
by suicide in this kingdom :

" The following disclosure speaks volumes as to the trials
endured by the poor, and the importance of affording them
timely assistance :

Yesterday an inquest was taken by Mr. Baker, at the Grave
Maurice, Whitechapel road, on the body of John Green, aged
35, carpenter, Swan-yard, Whitechapel. Deceased was em-
ployed in the excavation of the celebrated Box Tunnel ; lat-
terly in very great destitution. On Tuesday forenoon last, he
was found by Mrs. Hart, his landlady, suspended by a sash-
cord to a file which he had fixed in the wall. Life was extinct.
He had written two letters — one to his father, and the other
to a friend. He remarked in them — ' 1 am destitute of every-
thing, you will see from the state of my room. I have the
prospect of a dreary winter before me. Death is preferable to
a life of misery. I have not had enough for the last month to
keep body and soul together. Send this letter to my father,
who will perhaps pay my debts. I have no money to pay the
postage.'

The presence of a good Samaritan would have saved a sinful
soul from being thus hurried into eternity." — Observer, Dec.
1851.

"DISTRESSING SUICIDE IN WESTMINSTER.

A discovery has just been made in a house in Dean street,
"Westminster, which has given rise to a most painful feeling in
that neighborhood. About seven years ago, an engineer,
named Stone, died, and was buried in the Broadway church-
yard. His widow was left unprovided for, and left London to
take a situation in Kent, where she was not successful. At

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

427

the beginning of the present month she took lodgings in Dean
street, Westminster. She at first objected to the rent, saying
her only purpose for coming was to visit the grave of her hus-
band. She went away, but returned and took one of the rooms,
instead of two, and very little was seen of her afterwards ; the
last occasion being when she went to the landlady to borrow a
pen and ink, saying she wanted to write a letter. After that,
for a week, no more was seen of her, and suspicion being ex-
cited, the door was forced open, and she was found lying dead
on the carpet. Mr. Heath, the surgeon of Bridge street, was
sent for, who was of opinion that she had been dead seven or
eight days. He found on the mantel-piece two bottles labelled
'poison,' and upon a post mortem examination he discovered
about an ounce of laudanum in the stomach. She had been
in the habit for two years of going to the churchyard and
weeping over the grave of her husband. In her room the fol-
lowing letter was found : ' To save trouble, Mrs. Ann Stone
came by her death by a draught of laudanum, no one knowing
that she did take it, as she is a total stranger in the house she
is in. Every effort she has made to obtain an honest living
failed her. She has the presumption to throw her soul into
the presence of the Almighty, and she fervently prays that God
will have mercy on her soul. Good Christians, do not allow a
number of persons to look on my unfortunate body. I have
performed all the offices that are requisite ; the body is quite
ready for the coffin.' She then begs that she may be buried
in the same grave with her husband, and expressed a fear that
the Xew Victoria street might destroy it. She concludes : —
' If I could have died on my husband's grave-stone, I would
have done so.'" — Observer, Feb. 23(7, 1852.

You may remember the case of the ladies Sharpley,
mentioned, in one of my latest letters. As an attempt at
suicide whilst in a state of distress, both mental and
physical, which was caused by destitution, it is peculiarly
suited to exemplify the subject we have under consider-
ation.

As an illustration of the suicides caused by ill-treat-
ment, which frequently occur in this country, I direct
your attention to the cases which are referred to in my
letter of x^pril 22d, 1854 ; and to the following extract :
" about three months ago, a youth hung himself in his
cell, making a third case of suicide, besides several at-

428

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

tempts at suicide, since Lieut. Austen, R. N. (the present
Governor) succeeded Capt. Machonichie, two years ago."

I submit to you, whether or not, you have ever known
or heard of as many cases of self-destruction by slaves in
our country, in the whole course of your life, as were
here committed in one prison, within a period of two
years. Indeed, I doubt if you have ever known of a
case of suicide committed by a slave in our state. I am
sure I have not.*

I must hasten on and furnish you with some examples
of self-destruction in this country, caused by bad passions,
insanity, and other unhappy moral influences. Here, for
instance, is a case of suicide from ill-temper.

" SUICIDE FROM BAD TEMPER.

On Monday afternoon, an inquest was held before Mr. Bed-
ford, on the body of M. W. Weymar, in the board-room of
St. Martin's workhouse. The deceased was a bronze cutter,
lodging at 13, Bear street, Leicester square. On Saturday-
week a dispute arose between him and his employer respecting
9(1., which deceased claimed for one hour and a half overtime.
He was told that would be settled on Monday. He, however,
put himself in a great passion, took away his tools, and refused
to go to work. He continued in this state of irritation till
Wednesday night, when he retired to his apartment. Not ap-
pearing all next day, the door was forced, when he was found
suspended by a handkerchief to the bed-post, dead and cold.
He had £4 in money, and a gold watch in his pocket. Mr.
Sinclair, his employer, said he had not discharged him, and
would have paid him the 9d. Madame Ledreau, the landlady,
expressed her belief that the deceased had worried himself
about the 9d. till he lost his senses ; he was a man of most irri-
table temper. Verdict, that the deceased destroyed himself
whilst laboring under temporary insanity, produced by exces-
sive irritability." — Observer, Dec. Iblh, 1851.

From one number only of a paper, I have taken the
following :

"SUICIDES.

Suicide in an Omnibus. — On Tuesday evening an inquest
was held in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, before W. Payne, Esq.,

* See App. D., sec. 21, 43, 02, 78, 02, 109.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

429

on the body of Mr. Edwin Harris, a potato salesman, of 183
High street, Shorcditch, and who on the afternoon of Satur-
day week was found with his throat cut in an old omnibus on
the premises of Mr. Sawyer, livery-stable keeper, in the Curtain
road.

Mr. David Harris, brother of the deceased, deposed to having
parted with him on the morning of Thursday, the 15th inst., at
nine o'clock, when he stated that he purposed going after some
money, and he believed that it would yet be all right.

By the jury : The money alluded to was to meet a trade
debt, a bill of a large amount owing to a Dutchman. Had
seen his brother under similar circumstances before. He was
not more desponding than usual. Never saw him again alive.

Mr. Sawyer, livery-stable keeper, deposed to having known
deceased many years, and also to being present at the hospital
when questioned as to the time when he committed the act, and
seeing him write 1 Thursday' in reply ; also, subsequently, ' I
have a wife and six children, but do not wish to se~e them. I
want my waistcoat and some roasting apples. I laid in the
cold fifty hours before any one found me.' This paper was
produced, and read by the coroner.

William Holland, 146 N., one of the warrant officers of Wor-
ship street police court, produced a large clasp knife, discovered
under the seat of the omnibus in which deceased was found
lying, and covered with blood. Brought him to-the hospital in
a cab. The knife appeared a new one.

Mr. David Harris re-called : Never saw the knife alluded to
before.

Mr. Abel, father-in-law of deceased, stated that on the pre-
vious Wednesday evening, deceased called on him and appeared
very desponding. Showed him a bill for £83, and said that it
was all through the Dutchman his wife and family were ruined.
By a juror : The bill is not yet due. On the day before I saw
my son-in-law, who then said, ' When a man gets past sixty,
and talks about business, he deserves the pole-axe.'

Mr. Frederick Smith, one of the house-surgeons of Bartho-
lomew's hospital, was examined, and stated that deceased died
on Sunday evening at a late hour, in consequence of the prin-
cipal branches of the carotid arteries being severed. He had
several times rallied under the treatment to which he was sub-
jected during the day. Verdict, temporary insanity.

Isle of Wight. — Distressing Suicide. — Newport has been
visited by severe affliction in the distressing suicide of Mr.
Robert Bryant, the worthy landlord of the Star Inn, Newport,

430

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Isle of Wight. He rose as usual on Tuesday morning, and

after giving some directions to his men about his horses, &c,
he went up to his office. Not coming down to breakfast, nor
answering when called, the door was forced open, when he was
found suspended and dead. He was agent to the Isle of Wight
and London Shipping Company, and to various other concerns
as accountant and agent. He had the property of a great
number of persons in his hands. His widow was unfortunate
in her former husband, who died by his own hands. Her dis-
tress now cannot possibly be described. This, and the heavy
failure of one of the oldest and most respected townsmen last
week, for a sum little short of £20,000, has thrown a gloom
over the town which will not be soon removed.

Suicide by a respectable Tradesman. — On Tuesday, Mr.
Robert Judd, a highly respectable tradesman, who for the last
ten or twelve years has carried on the business of a bootmaker
at No. 9 Beak street, Golden square, committed suicide. The
unfortunate man married a second time, about two years ago,
having a grown-up family by his first wife, some of them fe-
males, to whom the second marriage was very unacceptable,
and family misunderstandings frequently arose amongst them.
One of these grievous altercations arose on Tuesday, when the
infatuated man rushed up stairs to the top of the house, and
hastily opening the window of a bed-room on the third floor, he
threw himself out of it into the street, a height of nearly forty-
three feet. He expired almost before he could be conveyed to
the hospital. His body was frightfully mangled." — Observer,
Jan. 2ijth, 1852.

The following case which I have referred to under an-
other head, as furnishing evidence of that "vicious pas-
sion" so common among the men of this country : viz.,
the brutal wife-butchering propensity which we have
before considered, with others like it, is strongly sugges-
tive of the fact that the number of suicides in this king-
dom is increased by reason of the despair with which the
minds of these women-butchers are overwhelmed, after
they have been urged by their fierce, and devilish pas-
sions upon the commission of those awful crimes :

"attempted murder and suicide — Newcastle — Monday.

This morning, at the borough police court, a tailor of the
name of Robert Knox unherwent an examination before Cap-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

431

tain "West, on the charge of attempting to murder his wife.
It appears that the prisoner is a master tailor in the Dog-bank,
and his wife a stay and corset maker. On Sunday morning, a
few minutes before 1 o'clock, a quarrel, the origin of which is
not yet known, took place between them, during which the
man sprang out of bed, and seizing a large table-knife which
lay near the bed, he struck it with great force into the side of
his wife, who was standing in the room with her clothes on.
Her shrieks aroused a neighbor of the name of Finnigan, who
rushed into the room as speedily as possible, and found Knox
and his wife lying upon the ground, the blood streaming
copiously from both of them. As ,soon as Finnigan entered
the room Knox drew from his side a large knife, and shouted,
'You see I have done it myself An alarm was raised, and
several of the neighbors came to Finnigan's assistance, whilst
others went in search of medical men and police officers. Knox
and his wife were placed on chairs in the bedroom, and on the
arrival of the police at ten minutes past one o'clock, both ap-
peared to be in a dying state, and unable to speak. Mr. Rayne
and his assistant, and Mr. Henry Fife, surgeons, speedily
arrived and dressed their wounds, and waited in attendance
upon them until 3 o'clock, when it was thought advisable to
procure the attendance of a magistrate, that the depositions
of the woman might be taken, as there appeared no proba-
bility of her recovery. At 4 o'clock, Mr. Alderman Hodgson
and Mr. Bulman, the magistrate's clerk, were in attendance ;
but as the womau appeared to be then reviving, the deposi-
tions were not taken. The prisoner had recovered earlier, and
at 3 o'clock was taken to the Manors police station, and
charged with attempting to murder his wife, when he replied,
'I am sorry I did not do it effectually.' This statement he
repeated several times, both in the presence of his wife, and
after his arrival at the police station. Kuox, when brought
before the magistrate this morning, seemed very weak from the
loss of blood, occasioned by the wound he inflicted on himself,
and scarcely able to stand. The wound was two or three
inches in depth. His wife fortunately had on a very thick pair
of stays, or she must have been killed upon the spot. The
knife was produced in court ; it was a very long, sharp-pointed
instrument. It had penetrated through the woman's stays, and
about three inches into her body." — Liverpool Mercury, De-
cember 3d, 1852.

Here are a few miscellaneous cases, which I have taken
just at random.

432

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

"DREADFUL murder, and suicide of the murderer.

Or Sunday night Last an appalling murder was committed
in the Tillage of Castle Rising, near Lynn, in Norfolk, by a
man named John Daw, aged 49, gardener to Mr. W. T. Ayre,
of Rising Mill, who, having first murdered his wife, Honor
Daw, aged 48, and his son, Martin Daw, aged 7, then destroyed
himself. It appeared that he had been for some days in a low
state of mind. On Saturday afternoon he and the son watered
the garden. On Monday morning, at half-past five, a man
named Harrison, who was passing along the banks of Rising
River, observed the body of a man lying in a shallow in the
water. He procured assistance, and Daw's body was identified.
Some of the party then proceeded to the deceased's house, in
order to break the intelligence to his wife, and surprise was ex-
pressed that the woman should not have missed her husband.
On arriving at the house of Daw, however, the doors were
found to be fastened, and after endeavoring for some time to
awaken the inmates, they burst open the door. Here a dread-
ful scene indeed presented itself. Upon entering the inner
room (there being no chamber) the body of the little boy was
found lying in a pool of blood, with the head nearly severed
from the body. Close to the child lay the body of the mother,
with her throat frightfully cut, so as to cause death. The room
bore evidences of a frightful struggle having taken place ; and
from circumstances it is supposed that Daw first attacked his
wife whilst in bed, and her struggles awoke the child, who
rushed and clung to his mother, the night-clothes of both being
nearly torn to shreds. Daw was found with nothing on but
his shirt, and not far from where his body lay was found the
knife with which he committed the dreadful deed. There was
a slight wound in his throat, which no doubt he inflicted whilst
standing beside the river, and then flung himself in.

" SUICIDES.

"Suicide of a Brother and Sister. — A most painful feeling
has been excited in Burmantofts (Yorkshire) by two suicides
in one family. Mary and Jamc-s Smith were daughter and sou
of a handle-setter of Burmantofts, with whom they lived.
Both were unmarried, and Mary was 23 years of age. She
had for a short period been in a desponding state. On Friday,
the 25th nit, she left her father's house without saying where
she was going, or that she intended to stay long away. No

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

433

tidings being heard of her, her relations (entertaining appre-
hensions from her previous despondency) caused the river Aire
to be dragged, and on Monday her body was found therein.
It was conveyed to the Nag's Head Inn, Hunslet, where an
inquest was held. There were no marks of violence upon the
body, nor any reason to doubt that she had drowned herself in
a moment of aberration of mind, and a verdict was returned
of ' Found Drowned.' But the tragedy did not end there. On
Thursday morning her brother James was found hanging in
his father's kitchen quite dead. On Friday morning an inquest
was held, and it appeared in evidence that the Smiths worked
in the mills of Messrs. Booth & Co., Chorley lane. James,
like his sister, had been in a desponding state for several weeks.
He appeared to have been much shocked by his sister's death.
She was interred on Wednesday. Early on Thursday morning
Smith's father called him up to go to work. They started
together, but on the road his father lost sight of him. It ap-
peals that he returned home. The only person in the house
was a younger brother, to whom he said that he was so ill that
he could not bear the thoughts of going to work. At 6 o'clock
the brother went to work, and the deceased was left alone.
At 8 o'clock a neighboring woman called for the purpose of
washing, and on entering the kitchen was horrified to find him
suspended by the neck from a beam. She raised an immediate
alarm, and the body was promptly cut down, but life was quite
extinct. The hapless suicide had tied a silk kerchief round
his neck, and with the assistance of a chair made the other
end of the kerchief fast to a beam extending across the ceiling,
and then completed the rash act by throwing himself off the
chair. Constitutional despondency evidently caused the deaths
of the brother and sister. In the brother's case a verdict was re-
turned of 1 Temporary Insanity.' " — Observer, April l$th, 1851.

"Suicide of a Female. — On Monday, Mr. Carter concluded
an inquest on the body of Mary Ann Adams, found in the
Thames, off Rotherhithe, on the 10th inst. The deceased was
the wife of a clerk in the city, who had absconded, after com-
mitting extensive forgeries, leaving his wife and children help-
less. She had been compelled to seek refuge in St. Mark's
workhouse, but immediately before her death was residing by
permission in the house of a friend at Old Brentford. She
left that place for London in very low spirits, ostensibly for
the purpose of re-entering the union with her infant, aged 17
months. Her friends saw no more of her until called to
37 2c

434 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD \ OR,

identify her body. Letters in the handwriting of the deceased
were produced. In the first she says, ' I hope the Almighty
will pardon me for the crime I have committed, but I can
never be happy in this world, neither could I leave my infant
behind. God grant I may be forgiven for such a rash act. I
freely forgive my husband as I hope to be forgiven.' The next
was as follows: 'I have preferred Waterloo Bridge for the
act. Send to Mrs. Tappin, and don't tell Anna for the world.
Good bye, God bless you all. I hope to be at rest with my
poor infant. Do not shed a tear.' On a scrap of paper was
written in deceased's hand-writing, ' Of sorrows and troubles
I have had my share. To leave an infant to the buffets of the
world is a worse crime than the one I have committed.' The
body of the child taken out by deceased, and which doubtless
perished with her, has not been found. The jury returned a
verdict to the effect that Mary Ann Adams committed suicide,
being of unsound mind.

Supposed Suicide of a County Magistrate. — On Sunday
afternoon the body of Mr. Richard Benson Blundell, of Deys-
brook, West Derby, near Liverpool, was found in a pond in a
field, called Finch Farm, and on Tuesday an inquest was held
at the Sefton Arms, West Derby, when it appeared that about
12 o'clock he had left his house, and was supposed to have
gone to Liverpool in the omnibus. He did not arrive at home
as usual at night, and, soon after half-past eleven on Sunday
morning, one of his sons saw his father's hat in a pit in an
adjoining field. The pit was immediately dragged, and in
about an hour and a half the body was found. It appeared to
have been in the water some hours. Mr. Bark, surgeon, said
that he had frequently attended the deceased, who always, in
his presence, appeared perfectly rational. He was sometimes
attacked with jaundice, which naturally exercised considerable
depression upon his spirits. He was accustomed to live highly,
and witness had entertained fears that he would some day be
attacked with a fit. The jury returned a verdict to the effect
that the deceased was found drowned, but how the body came
into the water there was not sufficient evidence to prove.

Determined Suicide by Fire-arms. — On Wednesday morn-
ing, between 9 and 10 o'clock, the neighborhood of Golden
lane, St. Luke's, was alarmed by the loud report of fire-arms,
followed by successive screams from the house No. 64. Police-
constable Steward, 67 G, on hastening to the spot, found, in a
slaughter-house at the rear of the premises, a man lying on the
ground with the back part of his head blown away, and a rusty

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

435

old horse-pistol in his hand. The unfortunate man was a pork
butcher, named Joshua Walden, 56 years of age, for a con-
siderable time tenant of the house. Pecuniary difficulties are
ascribed as the occasion of the rash act.

On Wednesday, Alderman Alexander Taylor, of Oldham,
destroyed himself by cutting his throat with a razor. Mr.
Taylor was generally known throughout the manufacturing
districts, having been an active Free Trader in the days of the
Anti-Corn-Law-League. He had become a violent political
partisan at the last two elections', under circumstances which
estranged him from many of his former friends, and this, it is
believed, was the cause of his committing suicide." — Observer,
March, 2Sth, 1853.

" Distressing Suicide at Dartford. — An appalling act of
self-destruction was committed early on Wednesday morning
last, by a gentleman who had taken a bed at the Ball and
George Inn, Dartford. The deceased, whose name was Henry
Lavender Culmer, was manager for Messrs. Saunders and
Otley, publishers, Conduit street, London. He was single, and
34 years old. He was writing during a great part of the day,
and went to bed at about 11 at night, having first smoked a
cigar with Mr. Meyers, the landlord, and asked the servant to
call him at 7. She did so, but received no answer, and her
attention being called another way, she did not proceed to call
him for another hour, when she went again and knocked at his
door, but received no reply. Mr. Meyers immediately sent for
Branden, the superintending constable, wrho proceeded to the
deceased's bed-room, and finding the door locked, they burst
it open, when a horrible scene was disclosed. Deceased, partly
dressed, was lying on the floor, in a pool of blood, his head
literally severed from his body, nothing but the vertebrae sus-
taining it. Close to his head was a razor ; a pistol recently
discharged lay on the table, covered with blood, and also an-
other, likewise covered with blood, loaded, but having no cap
on. A hole was discovered beside his ear, which had received
the contents of the pistol, but it is supposed that the first dis-
charge not proving effective, he had taken up the second pistol,
but could not discharge it in consequence of the cap being off,
and that he must then have resorted to the razor. Mr. Meyers
instantly sent for Dr. Culhane, but life had been extinct for
several hours. His father had committed suicide about twelve
years ago. From the uncle of the deceased, who was also
present, it was elicited that some family matters had preyed

436

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

much on the deceased's mind. He had been in the habit of
making an allowance to his mother, who, nevertheless, was
constantly writing to him for money. There was another
cause of trouble to the deceased. He had been engaged to a
young lady, who had broken off the correspondence in conse-
quence of the frequently excited state of his mind. Deceased
had borne an unimpeachable character, and the jury returned a
verdict of 'Temporary insanity.' — South Eastern Gazette." —
Copied into Hull Packet, June 11th, 1853.

"Love and Suicide. — On Thursday, Mr. Baker held an inquest
at the George and Yulture, Ratcliffe highway, on the body of
a fine young woman, named Eliza Hare, aged 20, who com-
mitted suicide. The deceased was much attached to a young
man in the Customs department. On Saturday evening she
saw him talking to a female named Jemima Steward, in Well-
close square, which seemed to annoy the deceased, who became
much excited. About 1 o'clock on Sunday morning the de-
ceased was seen to leap over the iron railing on Old Gravel
lane Bridge, into the water of the London Docks. An alarm
was raised, when a watchman brought the drags, but the
deceased was not found for ten minutes. Every exertion was
made by Mr. English, a surgeon, to restore life, but all efforts
were in vain. The deceased was to have been married on
Sunday next, and was very respectably connected. Verdict,
1 Temporary insanity.'

"Melancholy and Extraordinary Suicide. — A lady named
Tryphena Harding, aged 36, residing at No. 7, Marlborough
terrace, Walworth road, the wife of a naval officer, committed
suicide on Thursday, last week, by drowming herself in a wrater
butt, where she was found by her servant. A singular feature
of the case, and which shows the determination of the unhappy
woman, is that the bath being only partially filled with water,
she had deliberately sat down at the bottom. The deceased
was a lady of great accomplishments and sensitiveness,- and
upon every occasion that Captain Harding was at sea displayed
the utmost distress of mind. To make this case of a melan-
choly character, the unfortunate lady was near her accouche-
ment, and has left two children to deplore their loss. The jury,
without hesitation, returned a verdict of 1 Temporary insanity.'"
—Hull Packet, June 11th, 1853.

"Suicide by a Clergyman. — Last week excitement was
created in Worcester and its neighborhood, by the fact of tho
Rev. H. J. Stevenson, vicar of Hallow (three miles from

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

437

Worcester) and examining chaplain to the bishop of the
diocese, having destroyed himself under circumstances of singu-
lar determination. The reverend gentleman was one of the
honorary canons of Worcester Cathedral, and had been 'in
residence' last week, 'but, having been attacked with nervous
excitement, his medical adviser ordered him to suspend all
clerical duty for the present, and to return home to Hallow.
The deceased gentleman followed this advice, and appeared to
be getting better. On Thursday -night he retired to rest with
Mrs. Stevenson at the usual hour, and appeared in good
spirits. About 1 o'clock he rose, as he said, for the purpose
of taking a composing draught, and shortly afterwards Mrs.
Stevenson heard something trickling on the floor, and, sup-
posing he was spilling the medicine, she got out of bed and
went to him, when she was horrified to see that her husband
was cutting his throat with a razor. She heard him say, 1 1
don't know whether I can do it enough,' and,, though she had
seized his arm, he managed so to turn the blade as to sever at
once the jugular vein and carotid artery, and he fell on the
floor a corpse. All was the work of an instant, and Mrs. Ste-
venson could do nothing more than cry for help ; but when the
family rushed to the room they found the doors all locked.
The key of the bedroom could not be found, and an agonizing
suspense of nearly half an hour had to be endured while the
village blacksmith was roused, who, on his arrival, forced open
the door with a lever. The key was afterwards found in the
deceased's slipper.

"Suicide by a Gentleman of Fortune. — Mr. Wakley has
held an inquest on John Shedden, Esq., at the deceased's private
residence, Tavistock place, Tavistock square. The deceased,
who was a bachelor, aged 64, always enjoyed the best health
and spirits, and never betrayed a suicidal tendency, or symptom
of insanity, beyond a slight eccentricity of manner. Wednes-
day evening he dined with his brother, George Shedden, Esq.,
at 6 Bedford square, when, with the exception of a slight
bilious attack, he appeared in his usual health and spirits.
Thursday evening he dined alone in Tavistock place, retiring
to bed at his usual hour without evincing the slightest change
of manner. As he did not make his appearance at the break-
fast hour the following morning, the servant proceeded to his
bedroom to call him, when receiving no answer to her repeated
knockings, she became alarmed, and, calling assistance, had the
door forced open, when she found her master suspended by a
silk neckerchief from the cross pole of his bedstead. He was
37*

438

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

instantly cut down, and medical assistance procured, but life
had been some time extinct, as it would appear that the un-
fortunate gentleman hung himself soon after retiring to rest.
He was undressed, and had been evidently in bed, as appeared
from its disturbed state. On the dressing-table was a letter
written by deceased to a friend, in which he spoke of his resolve
to commit suicide to end a life of misery, and as he was unable
to face his friends agaiu. He concluded the letter by stating
that he was compelled to commit the suicidal act. The Coro-
ner observed that the letter was evidently the production of an
insane brain. George Shedden, Esq., could not account for
his brother's suicide, as his affairs were in a most prosperous
state, and he had nothing, as far as witness was aware, to dis-
turb his mental quietude. Several other witnesses having been
examined, without at all clearing up the mysterious circum-
stances that induced deceased to destroy himself, the jury
returned a verdict of Insanity." — Observer, July 1th, 1853.

The most singular fact in connection with this subject
is the number of suicides, or attempts at suicide, by chil-
dren in England. You will find a few instances below.

"DESPERATE ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.

At Worship street, on Friday, Caroline Townsend, a decent
looking girl, only eleven years of age, but three or four years
older in appearance, was charged before Mr. Hammill with at-
tempting to drown herself in the Regent's Canal. It appeared
that about noon, on Thursday, Mr. Thompson, who resides
near the canal at Haggerstone, saw the prisoner from his win-
dow hovering about the towing path in a manner that excited
his suspicion. He therefore watched, and presently saw her
go under the bridge, and throw herself into the water. He
instantly hastened to the spot with a pole, and, with the as-
sistance of another person, got her out, and conveyed her to
the Duke of Sussex public house, where she was stripped and
laid in warm blankets, and restoratives administered, and she
was afterwards taken to the police-station. "The water under
the bridge was at least eight feet deep, and quite out of the
view of passengers on the road, and but for her having been
accidentally noticed by the witness Thompson, she would no
doubt have been drowned. On being questioned, she said that
her grandmother, with whom she lived, had ' blowed her up,'
jind struck her for burning a hole in a slipper, and told her she

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

439

might, if she liked, go and make a hole in the water, and that
she, accordingly, went to the canal to do so. The prisoner
now assigned the same reason as before for attempting to de-
stroy herself, adding that her grandmother had struck her the
night before for the same offence of burning the slipper. The
grandmother said the girl was rather perverse and mischievous,
and had been slightly scolded and punished for injury to a pair
of slippers, but she was never ill-used, the old lady said ; and
it was evident, from her appearance and comfortable clothing,
that she had been taken care of. — Mr. Hammill remanded her
for a week." — Observer, February 3d, 1851.

" SINGULAR MONOMANIA.

A shocking death occurred a few days ago to a little girl,
whose parents reside in Short-acre. For some considerable
time the child, whose name was Sarah Aldridge, and whose
age is twelve years, has been subject to fits, and about a fort-
night ago she was discovered hanging by the neck from the
chamber window. She was rescued from her fearful situation,
and every care taken to prevent a repetition of the act, which
was for a few days successful. Ultimately it appears that the
poor child, who was still bent on destroying herself, obtained a
quantity of chips, and placed them under her pinafore, and set
fire to them. She was perceived by some neighbors, who suc-
ceeded in smothering the flames which enveloped her, but she
was so dreadfully burned, that death ultimately put an end to
her sufferings." — Birmingham Mercury. — Copied into Ob-
server, February 3d, 1851.

"SUICIDE Or A CHILD.

On Friday an inquiry was instituted by Mr. Bedford, the
coroner, at St. George's Hospital, as to the death of Caroline
Hemington, aged eleven years, who had destroyed herself.
The deceased resided with her parents at Edfield street, Not-
tingdale. On the first of last month the deceased had the mis-
fortune to break a small looking-glass, and she was greatly
alarmed lest her father should chastise her for it. Upon his
coming home he asked her why she had put her sister to bed
so soon, and she replied, 'Because she was sleepy,' and im-
mediately went up stairs herself. The father followed shortly
after, and found a quantity of blood by a table in the room, on
which was lying a razor also covered with blood. As he did

440

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD J OR,

not see his daughter in the room, he looked under the bed,
and there found her bleeding from a large wound in the throat.
A surgeon was sent for, who sewed it up, and she was then
taken to the hospital. In this place she told a younger brother
that she meant to kill herself. Mr. Rouse, the house surgeon,
stated that the wound was three inches long, and very deep.
It was such an extraordinary case for a child to commit such
an act, that he asked her who did it, and she said herself. She
died on Wednesday, from the effect of the wound. The jury
returned a verdict, ' That the deceased destroyed herself by
cutting her throat with a razor, being at the time of unsound
mind from fear.' " — Observer, March Wh, 1851.

" SUICIDE OF A BOY.

On Saturday afternoon Mr. Carter held an inquest at the
Hero of Waterloo, Waterloo-road, on the body of Morris
Frankford, aged fifteen, whose body was found in the Thames.
The evidence went to show that the deceased was apprenticed
to a cigar maker, named Jonas, in Holborn. He was last
seen alive on the evening of the sixth of the present month,
and the body was taken out of the river on Wednesday last.
The belief was that the treatment he, in common with other
apprentices at the establishment named, had received, had in-
duced him to commit suicide. — A verdict of ' Temporary In-
sanity' was recorded." — Observer, May 2hth, 1853.

.x "SINGULAR suicide by children.

A few days ago, a lad, named Henry Havill, aged twelve
years, son of an agricultural laborer, residing at Rockbeare,
in Devonshire, was found hanging to the bough of an elm tree
quite dead. He left his father's cottage in good health and
spirits, taking with him his food for the day. The night passed
over, but the lad did not return. On going to the field where
he had been at work, the boy was found hanging to the bough
of a tree by his handkerchief. There were no marks of violence
on him, and there can be no doubt that he had committed
self-destruction. No one could assign any reason for the rash
act, as he had not evinced any distress of mind, and was in
good health and spirits when seen at his work. A few months
ago, however, his brother also committed suicide in the same
way, and it is thought that this produced a morbid effect upon
his mind." — Hull Packet, June llth, 1853.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

441

The cause which urged some of these children to destroy
themselves is apparent. It is still the story of brutality-
cruelty on the part of their immediate superiors, or fear
of such treatment. And it serves to throw a flood of light
upon this painful subject.

Such facts will appear most remarkable to you, I am
sure ; for I suppose such a thing as suicide by a child of
tender years was never heard of in our Southern States.

I will not continue this subject. I feel persuaded that
enough has been said and shown to satisfy you or any
other reasonable man, that the inhabitants of this king-
dom, regarded as a whole, are as unhappy as I have shown
them to be immoral, cruel, and bloodthirsty.
I subscribe myself again,
Respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,
To Maj. J. Jones, P. Jones.

Pineville, Georgia, U. S. of America.

LETTER XLIV.

CAUSES OF THE SUFFERING AMONG THE BRITISH PEOPLE
CONSIDERED, IN A CONVERSATION BETWEEN DR. JONES AN£
AN ENGLISH NOBLEMAN.

London, May 16th, 1854.

Dear Major : — You may remember that I mentioned

having met a Lord B. at A Hall, upon the occasion

of my first visit to that place. With this gentleman I have
frequently interchanged visits since that time, and the
acquaintance then made has ripened into something like
intimacy. His lordship has professed himself much inte-
rested in learning wThat he might from my servant and
myself of our peculiar institution (as we call it) in the
Southern States ; and this, I presume, is what has brought
him to visit me, and to encourage my visits to himself, as
he has done. In our various interviews, we have dis-

442

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD * OR,

cussed this subject freely, and, whilst doing so, I have,
from time to time, remarked upon those features of
English society, and many of those facts which I have
been bringing to your attention ; and I have endeavored,
in such conversations, to contrast them with society and
its developments in our Southern States.

We have just concluded an interview, in which I sub-
mitted to him, at his instance, my opinion as to the causes
to which the great prevalence of social suffering, which I
have observed in this country, chiefly owes its origin. I
have thought it probable that, after what I had written
to you on this subject, there was much in this conversa-
tion which would interest you; and as the subject-matter
is but a step in advance of the point to which I had pro-
gressed in my last letter to you, I will give you the benefit
of that conversation.

"At our last conversation," said Lord B., "we were
interrupted when you were about to state your views as
to the causes of that extraordinary amount of suffering
which (as I do not deny), you have shown to prevail among
a large proportion of the people in this country. If you
have no objection, I should like to hear all that you have
to say on that subject. If I am not mistaken, you had
remarked that the unhappy condition of such large masses
of our people, in your opinion, was owing to a natural
fierceness of temper, to an unequal distribution of the
property of the country, and to oppressive taxation."

Myself. " You are right, sir. Such is my opinion ;
and I shall have no difficulty in sustaining it by facts, I
believe. I think I have already mentioned a sufficient
number of these facts to satisfy you as to the existence of
that vicious and vindictive temper, and its influence in
adding to the list of atrocious crimes throughout the land,
and I do not understand you to deny the correctness of
my facts, or the inferences I have derived from them. I
believe I have with equal plainness indicated how it is
that this vice is incessantly productive of outrages upon
the social and domestic relations of the people, and as a
consequence upon their happiness."

Lord B. " For the sake of this conversation, at least,
let that be conceded."

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

443

Myself. 11 In that event, it only remains for me to call
your attention to a number of facts, sufficient to sustain
the other members of the proposition, as I have stated it.
I remark then, first, that by reason of those peculiar fea-
tures in the constitution of Great Britain, which makes it
a government of King, Lords, and Commons ; and of her
social polity, which maintains a legal distinction of classes,
and for this purpose favors entails, primogeniture, and
the other appliances necessary to the retention and accu-
mulation of property in the same' family, it follows, as a
matter of course, that a very large proportion of the pro-
perty of the country (and especially the real estate) is
abstracted or withdrawn from the ordinary circuit of trade
and commerce, where, otherwise, it might minister to the
gratification of the many, and is more or less restrained
to the enjoyment of the (comparatively) few. "We are
told in 'Bowen's Political Economy,' and your Lordship
can easily set me right, I suppose, if there is error here,
that ' the inequality in the distribution of wealth in Eng-
land is greater than in any other civilized nation ; and
her nobility and gentry are wealthier, more intelligent,
more highly cultivated, more influential, and more secure
in the possession of their power and property than the
corresponding classes now existing, or that ever have
existed, in any country in the world. Five noblemen, the
Marquis of Breaclalbane, the Dukes of Argyle, Athol,
Sutherland, and Buccleugh, own perhaps one-fourth of
Scotland. I have already quoted the assertion of M. de
Lavergne, that 2000 proprietors possess among them one-
third of the land and total revenue of the three kingdoms
of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It is admitted that
up to 1848, there were not more than 5000 Scotch and
8000 Irish land-owners ; and good reasons have been
adduced for the opinion that there are only 46,000 who
should be classed as landed proprietors in England. About
60,000 families, then, own all the territory which is occu-
pied by over twenty-seven millions of inhabitants.' These
facts serve to show how large a proportion of the wealth
of this kingdom is thus withdrawn from the enjoyment
of the great mass of the people."

444

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

Lord B. " This statement applies only to property in
the land."

Myself. " True ; and the land with its appurtenances
constitutes a large proportion of the nation's wealth. But
it is quite evident that the long-continued enjoyment of
real estate, with its accumulations by the same family,
must enable that family to invest more or less of their
means in personal property, which, though not subject to
the same sort of legal restraint, must continue to a greater
or less degree to be attached to the land, or to revolve
about it, as it were, and be transmitted with it ; and thus
become subject to a somewhat similar exclusiveness of
appropriation. When this is considered, it will be per-
ceived that the amount of wealth thus to a great extent
withdrawn from the enjoyment of the many, and exclu-
sively assigned to the few, is enormous."

Lord B. " But is this property thus withdrawn from
the enjoyment of the many ? Schiller tells us : —

'SSte bed) ctn cinder 9?cidn'r fo 93ctttcr in SRafirung,
<St'|t! 2Benn tie $entg Oaun haben t>ie JUrrncr $u tljun !'

Perhaps you do not understand German, Doctor?"

Myself. 11 1 have learned to read it a little since I have
been in Europe, but I cannot speak it."

Lord B. "A free translation might be rendered thus :

1 How, one rich man finds many beggars bread !
And when kings build, the carters sure are fed.' "

Myself. " Your lordship must pardon me for saying
that there is more of poetry than political economy in that
couplet. It is certainly well in every country that the
rich should feed deserving beggars. But it is surely
better that there should be no beggars to feed. Again, it
is well that the sovereign should employ the carter when
he builds, and thus afford bread to the latter. But it cer-
tainly is better that the carter should not be dependent
upon the king's plans for building, in order that he may
secure a livelihood. And if it should be made to appear
that the undue wealth of the rich, causes the poverty of
the beggar ; and that the abstraction of wealth from the
general property of the people, in order to support the

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

445

king and his family, prevents others from building, and
thus throws the carter out of a certain and steady employ-
ment, why, then the sentiment of the German poet is no
reply to the proposition I have had the honor of submit-
ting for your consideration. You will please to observe,
-too, that my remark was, that this enormous wealth was
to a great extent withdrawn from the enjoyment of the
people generally. Of course I did not mean to deny that
more or less of it, especially the. income, must pass into
the hands of those who are employed to serve the owner.
Still the fact remains, that the great body of this wealth,
by reason of the laws, by virtue of which it is held as pro-
perty, is fettered in its circulation, so that it may con-
tinue to accumulate in the owner's family."

Lord B. "I must acknowledge that there is truth in
your observations."

Myself. " If this be admitted, it appears to me very
easy to see (without reference now to other causes) that
the difficulty of earning a subsistence is increased for the
laboring classes (to say the least of it) very greatly in this
country, by this state of facts. But if we look only to the
fact that so large a proportion of the real estate of the
kingdom is thus locked up in the possession of a few fami-
lies, and that the difficulty to the farmer, the laborer, or
the artisan, of procuring an interest in and a fixed home
on the soil, is thereby greatly enhanced, it is easy to per-
ceive that this class of people have not the incentives to
effort, which stimulate persons in similar condition of life,
elsewhere. [Notwithstanding all they can do, they may
feel that the chances are that they must remain but
tenants or hired workmen, without those aspirations,
those cheering and exciting motives, which nerve the
laboring classes in other countries. Under such a state
of things, it is not surprising that many should grow weary
in the race of life (especially if meeting with some unex-
pected misfortune), droop, give up the struggle, and fall
into the class of paupers or vagabonds — or worse still,
into that of thieves and outcasts.

But this is not the worst that is to be said upon this
subject. There are causes still more powerfully operating
to grind the faces of the poor in this country, and still
38

446

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

more extensively acting to deprive them of the opportu-
nity of acquiring property, or even the means of subsist-
ence. These grow out of the taxation — and this, again,
has its origin in the immense expenditure which is neces-
sary to pay the interest on the public debt, and to sustain
the artificial system of society which we have been con-
templating.

Look, for example, to any statement of the finances of
your country. I will repeat from a pamphlet, published
a year or two since, by Eidgway in Piccadilly, and enti-
tled 1 The Finances and Trade of the United Kingdon at
the beginning of the year 1852.' By this it appears, that
the net income of the State at this time was fifty- two
millions sterling. But of this, to begin with, no less a
sum than twenty-eight millions is impounded for the in-
terest of the debt, and the charges consequent thereon.
The expenditure for the year 1851 was forty-nine mil-
lions and a half — leaving a surplus of two millions and a
half in reduction of taxation and in liquidation of debt.
One of the first items is that of the Civil List. This con-
sists of £385,000, out of which sum are defrayed the
expenses of her Majesty's household and Privy Purse, the
salaries and retired allowances of the officers of the house-
hold, the royal bounty, alms, &c. This sum, together
with £12,730 paid as Civil List pensions to persons who
have rendered personal service to the Crown, or performed
public duties, or who have been distinguished by their
useful discoveries in science, and their attainments in
literature and the arts, made up the sum of £397,730.

The next item is 'Annuities and Pensions for Civil,
Naval, Military, and Judicial Services,' &c, amounting
to £378,341.

The next two items, ' Salaries and Allowances,' and
1 Diplomatic Salaries and Pensions,' consist of the salaries
of certain officers (such as the Speaker and officers of the
House of Commons, the Commissioners of Audit, the
Comptroller-General of the Exchequer, &c), and also the
salaries and expenses of the diplomatic service.

By what I have stated, your Lordship will perceive,
that nearly two millions of dollars were, in this year, ap-
propriated to the expenses of Her Majesty's Household

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

447

and privy purse, royal bounty, alms, &c. In the month
of June, 1852, as I see by the Observer of June 7th, 1852,
the House of Commons voted £113,476, or $567,380 for
maintaining royal palaces and buildings ; and for royal
parks and pleasure gardens, the sum of $302,730. By
an issue of the same paper, dated September 20th, 1852,
I find that it had been determined to build a new palace
for the Queen at Balmoral, which was estimated to cost
from £80 to £100, or about half a million of dollars
more.

Will your Lordship assist me in the effort to ascertain
some of the details comprised in one or two of the general
items to which I have referred ? That for example en-
titled ' Salaries and Allowances ! ' What is the Salary of
the First Lord of the Treasury?"

Lord B. " Five thousand pounds, and official resi-
dence."

Myself. "And what of the other officers of the cabi-
net?"

Lord B. 11 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secre-
taries of State, for the Home, Foreign, and Colonial
Departments, each receive £5000, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer having an official residence ; the First Lord
of the Admiralty has £4500, with official residence;
the Lord Chancellor has £10,000 ; the Chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster has £4000 ; the President of
the Board of Control £3500 ; the Lord President of the
Council, Privy Seal, Chief Commissioner of Woods, &c,
and President of the Board of Trade, have £2000 each ;
and the Postmaster-General £2500. These constitute the
Cabinet. There are in the government, besides these, the
Commander of the Forces, who receives £3460 ; the Secre-
tary at War, Joint Secretary of the Treasury, who receive
£2500 each ; the Attorney-General, who receives £5500 ;
Solicitor-General, who gets £2580 ; the Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, who receives £20,000; and the Chief Secre-
tary of Ireland, who gets £5500."

Myself. "I presume, sir, you know that the heads of
departments in our general government receive only
$6000. The heads of departments in your government,
therefore, receive five times as much for their services, as

448

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ; OR,

ours — and quite as much as the head of our government,
the President of the United States. Your Attorney-
General receives very considerably more than the Presi-
dent of the United States ; and the Lord Lieut, of Ire-
land just double as much. The Master of the Kolls has
a salary almost equal to the Chancellor, does he not?
And the Vice Chancellors have large salaries too !"

Lord B. " The Master has £7000; and the Vice Chan-
cellors £6000 each."

Myself. " What is the salary of your other Judges ?"

Lord B. " The Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench re-
ceives £8000; the puisne judges £5500. The Chief Jus-
tice of the Court of Common Pleas, and the Chief Baron
of the Exchequer receive £7000 each ; and the puisne
judges £5500. In Scotland the Lords President receive
£4800; and the Judges £3000 each- In Ireland the
Chancellor gets £8000; the Master of the Polls £4300;
the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench £5074 ; the puisne
judges £3688 ; the Chief Justices of the Common Pleas,
and of the Exchequer, receive £4615 each; and the
puisnes £3688 each."

Myself. " I am obliged to your Lordship for this in-
formation. It shows that the Chief Justice of your Court
of Queen's Bench receives just eight times as much for
his services, as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States. And your puisne judges receive
more than five times the sum received by the Associate
Justices in the United States. Even in Scotland and Ire-
land the judges receive more than three times the salary
paid to Associate Justices of the Supreme Court in the
United States. Your officers of almost every other kind
are paid in very much the same proportion, I believe.
And then there are your pensions and sinecures. Your
retiring ministers of state all receive pensions, I believe.
Will you be so good as to mention the amount of some of
these ?"

Lord B. " The First Lord of the Treasury, and all
other members of the Cabinet, receive a retiring allow-
ance of £2000 each ; the Irish Secretary, and Secretary
at War, £1400 each ; the Joint Secretary of the Trea-
sury, First Secretary of the Admiralty, and Vice Presi-

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

449

dent of the Board of Trade, have a pension of £1200
each."

Myself. u I have referred to your sinecures. There are
of these, which are supported from the public revenues,
as well as from fees of office. Of the first, you may take
as a specimen, the appointments of Colonels to the various
regiments. These may be excused, perhaps you are pre-
pared to say, on the ground, that they are intended to be
the rewards of veteran service.' This might be satisfac-
tory, if they really were so. But it was only during the
course of the last year, that the. Times took the Govern-
ment to task for conferring the two most distinguished
of these, having an allowance, the one of £3000, and the
other of £2000, upon Prince Albert, and the Duke of
Cambridge. Of the second sort of sinecure, you have an
example, in the case of Mr. Moore, to which the Times
called the attention of the public, a year or two since.
According to the Times, that gentleman was in the receipt
of £9000, fees of office, as Registrar of the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury, when the services were entirely, or
almost entirely performed by others. In addition, I re-
member that the Times stated, that there was paid £1500
to each of three deputy registrars, and ample payment to
the clerks of seats, all nominated by the registrar, and
well paid for doing little more than nothing. That paper
then passed from what it called the ■ aristocracy' of the
office, to the ' rabble,' who, as it asserted, 1 do all the real
work, and get little of the real pay.' "

These are very good illustrations of the manner in
which the St. James of your social system is enabled to
monopolize the resources, and the wealth of the nation,
and thus to force the St. Giles into beggary, starvation,
or crime. Is it any wonder, therefore, that we find your
men of thought sometimes exclaiming, as does Southey !
— " We talk of the liberty of the English, and they talk
of their own liberty ; but there is no liberty in England
for the poor." Nor is it any wonder, in view of such
unjust social provisions, that so many of these poor should
be, as he describes them; viz., " deprived in childhood of
all instruction and all enjoyment; of the sports in which
childhood instinctively indulges ; of fresh air by day, and

4.50

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR;

natural sleep by night. Their health, physical and moral,
is alike destroyed ; they die of diseases induced by unre-
mitting task-work, by confinement in the impure atmos-
phere of crowded rooms — or they live to grow up with-
out decency, without comfort, and without hope, without
morals, without religion, and without shame ; and bring
forth slaves like themselves to tread in the same path of
misery."

Lord B. 11 Undoubtedly, our public debt is a very large
one, and our government is costly. But you must admit
that the abolition of the corn-laws, and the tax upon in-
come tend very much to adjust the taxation necessary
to sustain this expensive system upon something of an
equitable basis."

Myself. 11 1 am not qualified, my lord, to discuss these
political questions with you. But I find your press com-
plaining, that your tariff of taxation is, by no means,
adjusted, with reference to ' the comforts of the poor,'
and insisting that St. Giles gets the worst of it here, as
in so many other ways. Take, for example, the follow-
ing which I clipped from the Weekly Dispatch, of Febru-
ary 6th, 1853.

" The Duties on Butter, Cheese, Eggs, &c. — In one of the
best of his free trade speeches, Sir Robert Peel said that it
was his object, in the new commercial policy which he sup-
ported, to make living cheap in England It

is strange that since the death of the great statesman, no
earnest attempt should have been made to rid our tariff of the
many remaining duties upon articles of necessity and comfort
which still disfigure it. Take as an example the duties upon
butter, cheese, eggs, &c. The duty upon butter imported
from foreign ports is 10s. the hundred weight, or a little more
than one penny per pound. Cheese pays 5s. per cwt., or a
fraction above a half-penny per pound. Kggs pay lOd. per
120, and 5 per cent, upon the value, making about 1 0 id. the
hundred. Poultry pays 5 per cent, upon its value. Now, all
these are strictly protecting duties; that is to say, they are
imposed, not so much to increase the income of the country,
as to keep up the market price of the articles at home for the
benefit of farmers. The quantity of butter imported from
foreign places, in 1852, was 354,218 OWtS., producing a duty

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

451

amounting to £167,418. Eggs were imported to the number
of 115,526,225. paying duty amounting to £42.149. The
quantity of cheese was 338,988 cu ts , paying £83 872. The
poultry imported only amounted in value to £31,523, paying
duty £1657. Now, with the exception of poultry, it w 11 be
seen that all these articles upon which heavy protecting duties
are still levied, are articles of the first necessity, and consumed
in largest amount by the working classes. To tax butter is
to make the careful mother sparing in the use of that nutritious
article upon the bread of her children. To tax cheese is to
make the working man pay duty for his principal meal — for
bread and cheese too frequently constitute his dinner. The
duty upon eggs is enormous, and the number consumed shows
how important they are to the subsistence of the working
people. The price of eggs fluctuates in the market, during
the summer, between 3s. 6d. and 5s. 6d. the hundred — so that
the duty is often 25 per cent, upon the value. At particular
seasons, it is true, eggs sell at a higher price, but they rarely
reach 10s. per 100 for more than a fortnight together at any
time of the year. Foreign eggs are mostly sold in poor neigh-
borhoods, and the consumption of them is mostly amongst
poor families. When one reflects how often an egg and a cup
of tea are the scanty meal of poor women in humble life, one
cannot help feeling indignant that a duty of 25 per cent,
should be levied upon this kind of food, upon the pretence
that it is necessary to maintain the incomes of rich squires and
fat farmers."

Whilst upon the subject of taxation, I will mention
that according to Maltebrun's Geography, the average
amount contributed, by the people, to the revenue in Eng-
land, was then 816-28 each. In the British Empire, in
Europe, it was $11*28. This calculation was made some
years ago ; but I presume it does not vary very much
from the state of facts, as they now exist. If we take
the amount which has been specified, as the nett income of
the United Kingdom for 1851, viz., 52 millions of pounds
sterling; subtract therefrom the sum of £563,453 8s. 8d.
which I find were receipts from other sources than cus-
toms, or taxation, and then add what had been subtracted
from the gross revenue, in the shape of charges, &c.; for
collection (less, of course, the charges upon the same of

452

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

£563,453 8s. 8d.), and divide this sum by 21,000,000 (as
the sum of the population of the United Kingdom on the
21st of March, 1851), we will obtain nearly the same
result as Maltebrun.*

If, for the sake of the contrast, we would ascertain the
average amount of taxation paid by each citizen of the
State of Georgia, we may pursue a similar course — take
the revenue of the United States derived from taxation,
divide it by the population, and add to it the taxation by
the State of Georgia obtained in a similar way. Thus I
find that the revenue of the United States derived by tax-
ation was $49,017,567 '92 (According to the American
Almanac for 1853, and the Report of the Secretary of the
Treasury), for the year ending June 30th, 1851. By the
census of 1850, the population of the United States was
shown to be 23,191,876. Assuming it, in round numbers,
as 23,000,000, and dividing the amount of revenue above
stated by this sum, we have a result of $2"17J. An alma-
nac for 1851, printed in Georgia, informs me that the sum
total of the tax-digest of that State for the year 1849
was $320,090-03. Divide this by the number of the
population which the census report exhibits about that
time, — viz., 905, 999, f — and we have the sum of thirty-
five cents, and a very small fraction over. If it be more
accurate to exclude the slave population, we will do so,
and divide the amount on the tax-digest by the free white
population : viz., 524,318. We thus obtain a result of
sixty-two cents nine mills, — say sixty-three cents, — as
the average amount of taxation then paid by each tax-
payer in Georgia. This, added to $2*17J, will give us
$2 '80 as the average amount of taxation paid by each
citizen of Georgia to his Government at this period. If
the slaves be excluded from the divisor in the first calcu-
lation above stated, the result will be slightly increased.
But this statement is near enough for all practical pur-
poses of comparison."

* The "Statistical Companion" for 1852 (to which I have several
times previously referred) states the population of England, Wales. Scot-
lam!, Ireland, and the other islands of the British sens, to have heen
20,986,468, on March Cist, 1651. The ''Observer" newspaper, pub-
lished a short time since, gives it as 21,121,907. I assume it, in round
numbers, as 21,000,000.

f "Statistical Companion," 1852, p. 137.

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

453

I find, Major, that I cannot give you all of the conver-
sation between Lord B. and myself, upon this occasion,
in one letter, without trespassing too much upon my time
and your patience. I therefore close this, with the as-
surance that I am, as ever,

Respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Maj. J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

LETTER XLVI.

CONTINUATION OF THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN DR. JONES
AND AN ENGLISH NOBLEMAN — "LET US HEAR THE CON-
CLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER/'

London, May 18th, 1854.

Dear Major : — I expect to turn my face homewards
some time during the next week ; and my heart is bound-
ing with the joyful thought that I shall probably be with
you early in the next month. Before I sail, however, I
must finish the account of the conversation which I was
reporting to you in my last letter.

After the remarks there stated, I went on to say, " In
the next place, I invite your lordship's attention to the
fact, that these are not the only taxes which the inhabitant
of Great Britain pays. In other ways he is highly taxed
— in one, especially, which impresses a citizen of my
country very unfavorably. That is, the price which is
paid for the administration of justice in your courts.

The amount of fees which, as I have shown, are paid
to the sinecure officers in the Registrar's office of the Pre-
rogative Court, affords an indication of the contribution
which is levied on all the property of the kingdom, which
must pass through the courts for the purposes of admin-
istration or distribution.

454

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

If we turn to the Court of Chancery, we shall find the
evils there so immense as to excite the reprobation of all
who understand them, except such as are interested in
maintaining the system. The extracts which I am about
to read to you embody these evils in a condensed form.

'evils of the chancery system.

An interesting- lecture was given by Mr. W. Carpenter, on
Wednesday, in the Lecture Hall, Greenwich, on Chancery
reform.

Lord Erskine, on taking the chair, said the abuses in the
court were so notorious that he would not waste time by dilating
on them. Chancery reform was no less needed than had been
slavery abolition, the Reform Bill, or even Catholic Emancipa-
tion [hear].

Mr. Carpenter said it was the theoretic right of every
Englishman to have cheap law ; yet the exactions in the highest
court in the kingdom were so enormous as to have become pro-
verbial in the mouths of men. The instances were not few in
which the atrocious intolerable abuses of the Court of Chancery
in this kingdom — the instances were not few in which the
atrocious system pursued in their courts of equity had sent
men to the workhouse or the lunatic asylum, and left families
exposed to all the horrors of starvation. It was vile and flagi-
tious wickedness — an abomination to every honest man — and a
disgrace to the country which tolerated it [hear]. The pro-
perty which was locked up in the Court of Chancery, through
which all this evil was consummated, amounted to the enormous
sum of i.200,000,000. It was utterly impossible to portray in
their proper colors the hideous wrong and misery inflicted by
this system of dispensing justice and equity to the people of
this country. But in order to enable his hearers to form some
faint idea of the enormity of wrong perpetrated, he would, as
the best and most satisfactory mode of giving them a notion on
the subject, state the details of one or two cases. Mr. Car-
penter then referred to the case of Mr. R. Mill, who died in
1841, leaving £12,000 as a charitable fund, the dividends of
which were to be applied to the augmentation of small curacies,
into the details of which he entered with much minuteness. In
one part of that ease no less than twelve counsel were em-
ployed, each holding a brief of thirty-six sheets in his hand,
and the question to be decided was, whether the receiver was
to be allowed some £40 or £50 or it may be £100 a year. The

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

455

question, however, was not vet determined, for it was referred
three years ago to the Master to make a report, and up to the
present time no report had been made. Xo less than £2000
could have been expended in the contest on this little point,
which, however, is not decided yet. If things went on in their
present course, it would probably be left to some future gene-
ration to learn the conclusion of this case, in which property to
a very large amount was involved. Another case of a similar
kind was that of O'Xeil v. Lucas. The suit was commenced
in 1836, and was instituted to compel the payment of £1700,
of which the plaintiffs, who were children, had been deprived
by their trustee. What must they think of the Court of
Chancery, when the costs in this, as" one would imagine, very
plain case, amounted to £3286 ; and, still more than this, when
an order was made for levying these costs off the estate of the
children [cries of shame] ? There were other points in the
same case which he would not then enter into, but it was pro-
bable that the replacement of this £1700 would entail costs to
the enormous amount of £13,000 [shame]. Was it to be
wondered at that such a system plundered property, broke
men's peace of mind, scattered families, blasted their hopes
and prospects, and drove the object of its solicitude to suicide
or insauity ?

A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, and the meet-
ing separated.' — Observer, December 23d, 1850.

COURT OF CHANCERY.

To the common apprehension of every Englishman the Court
of Chancery is a name of terror, a devouring gulf, a den whence
no footsteps return. Ask why such a family was ruined, why
the representatives of a wealthy man are wanderers over the
face of the earth ; why the butlers, and housekeepers, and gar-
deners of the kindest master in the world, in spite of ample
legacies in his will, are rotting on parish pay ; why the best
house in the street is falling to decay, its windows all broken,
aud its very doors disappearing ; why such a one drowned
himself, and another is disgraced — you are just as likely as not
to hear that a Chancery suit is at the bottom of it. There is
no word so terrible to an Englishman as this. An honest, in-
dustrious man, accustomed to hard thrift and slow accumula-
tion, building his fortune course after course, and indulging in
visions of futurity to compensate for much present self-denial,
will turn pale and sick at heart at the bare mention of Chan-

456

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

cerv. A suit in that court is endless, bottomless, and insatia-
ble. Common notions of justice and law become childish
follies before the inscrutable mystery of a Chancery suit. Such
is the ancient court which our Premier ventures to threaten
with innovation — a court which, in the estimation of most
Englishmen, and with a view to a large proportion of its actual
results, is an organized iniquity, an incurable evil, an inveterate
wrong.'"— The Times, March, 1851.

Lord B. " My dear sir, I shall not deny that the Court
of Chancery is obnoxious to many of these charges ; but
does it not strike you, that, in stating their cases, these
gentlemen have not been able to resist the temptation
which the opportunity afforded of a little figurative de-
clamation ? and that, as you say in America, they ' have
piled up the agony ' somewhat?"

Myself. " For example, in what respect, my lord ?"

Lord B. 11 For example, the Chancellor's felo-de-se vic-
tims, Doctor."

Myself. " Indeed you have overlooked facts, if you sup-
pose so ; as the following extract, taken from the ' Ob-
server ' of February 23d, 1852, must convince you :

SUICIDE FROM A DREAD OF A CHANCERY SLIT.

On Monday last, an opulent and highly -respected man, Thos.
Bath, Esq., of Northover, near Glastonbury, Somerset, com-
mitted self-destruetion by drowning liimself a few hundred
yards from his own mansion. It appears that some few months
since, Robert Phippen, Esq., of Badgworth Court, a magis-
trate of the county, who had also served the office of high
sheriff, died at an advanced age, supposed (though, as it has
turned out, erroneously) to be enormously rich. To this gen-
tleman's affairs, as well as those of two maiden- ladies named
Batt, who died wealthy at Mark, near Blackford, the deceased
had been left executor. Differences, however, unhappily arose
in the administration of the affairs amongst the members of the
respective families, and the business of one estate, if not both,
was at length consigned to Chancery, very much to the annoy-
ance and discomfiture of poor Mr. Bath, who entertained an
instinctive dread of litigation. Hence the proceedings taken
in the matter preyed heavily on his mind, and led to the event
bo much deplored by his family and friends.'

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.

457

Oppression in the Bankruptcy and Insolvent Courts,
from exorbitant taxation of costs and fees, is also very
great, according to the two extracts which I hold in my
hand, from the "Observer" of March 8th, 1852, and
January 27th, 1853 ; to which I refer your lordship.
And, if Lord Brougham is to be credited, in a statement
made, during the month of April last, to the House of
Lords, the costs in your county courts are in like manner
excessive and oppressive."

Lord B. 11 What you have said and read in this con-
nection, I grieve to say, is probably correct. But I hope
that the day of reform as to some of these matters is not
far distant."

Myself. 11 Sufficient for the purpose which I have in
view, is the fact that such evils now exist, as I will pre-
sently more particularly explain.

Before doing so, however, I desire to mention one other
enormous evil, which constitutes a part of the system, or
is intimately associated with the unequal distribution of
the resources of this country. That is, the excessively
unjust adjustment of your ecclesiastical revenues and
patronage ; by reason of which, the higher orders of your
clergy are surfeited with riches, whilst the lower are
sometimes almost reduced to beggary. Your bishops and
other dignitaries are so exorbitantly paid, as to increase,
in a similar way to that I have already suggested with
respect to another privileged class, the difficulties of sub-
sistence to the poor generally.

It was not long since (that is to say, some time during
the year 1852), that I heard Sir B. Hall state, in his place
in the House of Commons, that, according to a return
which had been recently laid on the table, one bishop had
an income equal to the salaries of the Speaker of the
House of Commons, the Secretaries of the Home Office,
of the Colonies, of Foreign Affairs, and of a Commis-
sioner of the Customs, all added together. Another
bishop, he stated, had an income equal to the salaries of
the Chief Justices of the Queen's Bench and of the Com-
mon Pleas, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and the
Sergeant-at-Arms attending the House, all put together.
Sir B. Hall had taken up the subject of church abuses
39

458

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD; OR,

about this time, your lordship may remember, and pub-
lished a letter on the subject, which contained much valu-
able information. I do not propose to trouble you with
it, but I cannot resist the inclination to read in your hear-
ing the following remarks of the ' Weekly Dispatch '
(published on the 2d of November, in the same year), in
which this letter and these church abuses were discussed :

' PITY THE BROKEN-DOWN CLERGY.

At Arpthorp's ' Depot for the Publications of Ecclesiastical
and Political Progress,' in Bishopsgate street Without, a letter
on ' Church Abuses,' written by Sir Benjamin Hall, Bart, M. P.
for Marylebone, is sold at the extraordinary low price of one
penny. It is an exposure of Church abuses, which it reflects
as clearly as any mirror that ever left the establishment of
M'Lean.

Yery few persons think there exists anything but pure reli-
gion under long lawn or a goat's-hair wig; they are quite in-
dignant if you hint that a bishop would not stick at a trifle in
a matter in which money was concerned ; and go further, and
impugn your belief, if you think a bishop loves lucre. Robert
Moore, a prebend of Canterbury Cathedral, is one of the sons
of Archbishop Moore. This archbishop, about fifty years ago,
gave his son a sinecure office in the Prerogative Court of Can-
terbury, worth only £10,894 per annum

On reference to Sir Benjamin Hall's penny letter, we find that
in seven years, ending 1850, his Grace's gross income was
£210,134*8s. 4d. ; his net income, £160, 984 7s. 8d. ; income
from fines for seven years, £83,951 12s. 7d. ; and his average
salary, poor man, only £22,907 15s. 4^d. a-year ! How his
Grace manages to sustain life upon such a paltry, unworthy
income, we are totally at a loss to discover

That ill-used and over-worked man, the Bishop of London,
is in a worse plight ; his income is only £16,513 2s. lOd. a-year.
Why, upon such scandalous wages, he must be as badly off as
a ' poor frozen-out gardener1 of Fulham.

The Bishop of Durham grasps £26,786 16s. Old. a-year.
The odd three farthings ! In many instances the bishops have,
in addition to their sees, several other sources of ecclesiastical
preferments; for instance, the Bishop of Exeter is treasurer
and canon of his cathedral, value £1198 per annum ; rector
of Shobrook, £280 per annum ; cauon of Durham, £2600 per

BILLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

459

annum ; total, £4078 net income, besides his see. But we
have shown, in another article devoted to this subject, how the
bishops have evaded furnishing true and faithful returns ; how
they have 1 cooked their accounts,' in order to preserve their
enormous incomes ; but it was done, we suppose, for the glory
of the Most High, and not with any view to enrich themselves
by laying hold of what is erroneously called the property of
the Church. 1

1 CORMORANTS OF THE CHURCH.

Some weeks since, the Rev. Charles Phillips wrote to Sir
Benjamin Hall, one of the members Sot the Borough of Mary-
lebone, asking him to subscribe his mite towards the erection
of a church in Bedford Xewtown. St. Pancras. Sir Benjamin
declined to accede to the reverend gentleman's request, on the
following grounds (we hope others may do likewise): — 'I
consider that the funds of the Established Church are ample
for the erection of churches, and to provide for the spiritual
wants of the laity, without the constant demands which are
made upon us by the clergy who are in possession of the eccle-
siastical property, while the working clergy are left with the
smallest pittance, and the laity are taxed for contributions,
under the plea of the poverty of the Church. If I take the
case of the diocese of London, I cau prove that the property
of the Church, now vested in the Bishop and the Deans and
Chapters of St. Paul's, and St. Peter's, Westminster, is amply
sufficient for all spiritual purposes, if properly administered.
The present Bishop of London, when sitting at the Board of
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in 1837, determined that the in-
come of a Bishop of London should be £10,000 per annum,
and he returned the revenue of the see, for the seven years end-
ing 1835, at £105,045 14s. 4d., giving an annual average of
£15,786 7s. 9d., and at that time the Paddington estate was
only partially built upon. The next septennial return, ending
December, 1843, shows the income had materially increased ;
and the last return for seven years, ending 1850, exhibits a still
greater increase ; and this is independent of any leases which
may have been granted by the Bishop to his trustees for pri-
vate uses, upon which, no fines having been taken, his lordship
has not given the value. Thus, for instance, in 1843, the in-
come is returned at £13,500 ; but the Bishop having run his
life against the lives of the lessees, he granted a new lease of
the rectory of Rickniansworth, the annual rent-charge of which

460 THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD j OR,

is £1406 18s., to his trustees. The value of the see that year
should consequently have been returned at .£33,000 at least
instead of £13,500. In 1848, the net income, as given by tho
Bishop, was £22,975 — this is exclusive of two palaces — while
the annual value of livings in his gift amounts to £58,725, as
exhibited in the Clergy List, to which may be added other

patronage, worth many thousands a-year

In 1850, being the last year of the septennial period, the
Bishop of Durham's net income was £24,363, although his
lordship was appointed subject to the provisions of the act of
1836, in which year the income was fixed at £8000. The
Bishop of Winchester, in the same year, had £26,241, instead
of £7000, and alienated from the Church a most valuable estate
in Southwark, for a fine of about £17,000, by renewing a lease.
The Bishop of St. David's enjoys a much larger income than
that assigned to his see, and receives £1600 a-year from the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to make up an imaginary defi-
ciency. The Bishops of Chichester, Oxford and Rochester,
do the same in various amounts. The Archbishop of York,
when Bishop of Hereford, received £15,400 from the Commis-
sioners to make up a similar supposed deficiency, whereas, in-
cluding that sum, he had £18.195 17s. 4d. more than the in-
come assigned to his see. The Bishop of Bath and Wells,
when translated to that see from Oxford in 1845, found a
charge upon the see to the Commissioners of £800 a-year, after
allowing £5000 a-year to the Bishop. In the five years end-
ing December, 1850, his lordship received £28,326 15s., but
did not pay one farthing of the charge due from him, retaining
the amount to his own uses.'

During the same year, the ' Times ' published a letter
from the Rev. Sidney Godolphin Osborne, from which I
have taken the following :

' CAST-OFF APPAREL FOR POOR CURATES.

1 The sympathy of the public has of late years been a good
deal directed to the evils of what is called the slop-system.
Poor Hood and others have done much for overworked, ill-
paid seamstresses and tailors; the contrast, however, between
capital in cash and capital in sweat and toil does still present
many painful features. There is a class of workmen to whom
little sympathy has as yet been afforded, but who^e condition
deserves all sympathy, and I think is cauable of amendment ;

BILLY BUCK'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 461

I mean those unfortunate gentlemen who as curates do a good
deal of slopwork for the Church capitalists.

4 The curate of a parish can do for the souls of the people
every single necessary thing that the rector can do, or even a
bishop. The curate is often left in sole and entire charge of a
very large parish ; he represents in that parish all the Church
offers, all the State demands, for the cure of souls in it. The
rector or vicar may be drawing from £300 to £800 per annum
from the said parish as master spiritual workman of it, and
this ner, clear of all deductions ; the curate — the slop-hand —
is doing the work at a salary of from £80 to £120, with una-
voidable calls upon that income, seldom leaving to any curate
a clear four-fifths of the nominal payment to him. We hear
with truth of the wealth of the Church ? we know now what
have been, and still are, the incomes of the bishops ; we know
something of the amount of money falling into the hands of the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners ; we know how they have aided
in building palaces, and been blind to knavery in highly reve-
rend quarters. Will the public believe the fact ? — for yesrs
past there has been a society whose aim is to collect cast-off
apparel for poor curates. I have read with my own eyes the
letters of curates and their wives, full of gratitude for gifts of
worn-out clothing, giving painfully interesting details of how
they worked up our old things into their own and children's
best apparel. If merit should ever lead to promotion, I can
quite conceive the possibility of a gentleman stepping into
Fulham as its rightful occupant who had lately worn gratefully
the cast-off trousers of the late bishop, and made Sabbath
coatees for his children of the worn-out gowns of his wife.
Why, sir, ladies' maids and valets have a right to complain that
charitable ladies come to master or mistress and beg for poor
parsons the perquisites of their orders.' '

Again, the same reverend gentleman says,

' I have before me the report for 1852 of ' the Poor Pious
Clergyman Clothing Society ;' in it there is a copy of a letter
of thanks for relief to the manager of that institution, under
every letter of the alphabet ; and these are headed 1 Extracts
from Correspendence.' I find in these, letters from clergymen
— i. e., from men who might be bishops — gratitude expressed
for coats, which fitted themselves as though they ' had been
made to measure ;' secondhand frocks, equally fortunate in fit,
39*

462

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD ) OR,

'for their daughters;' 'brown linen, which makes up into
wagoner's bibs for our boys.' 'Old bed curtains, which, re-
made, made nice winter curtains for my room.' 'When we are
sitting round our hearth,' writes letter ' G,' 'we talk over our
dress, and one points to one thing and another to another, all
and each supplied by your parcel.' Letter ' L' says, 'Accept
our warmest thanks for all you have sent, but especially for

the linen, which Mrs. L much required ; the boots and

coats are matters of delight to my boys,' &c, &c.

Commenting on these facts, one of your radical journals
holds the following language :

'Probably among these humble men we might find some
of the lights of the Church as she should be. What a hard
step-mother they have found her as she is. She ordained them
to be children of God ; she compels them to be the suppliants
of men for food and raiment to keep them respectable. A
member of this national Church dare not preach where he can,
and so get him together a congregation who trust and love
him. No, he is admitted to the grace of starvation, while the
property amassed in the course of ages is shared mostly on the
principle of patronage and favoritism.

Then there is the enormous folly of simony ; the enormous
folly of non-residence ; the enormous folly of doing work by
badly paid deputies, who are ground down to the earth — the
clerical Uncle Toms of clerical Legrees — victims of the worst
kind of slavery, the slavery of mock freedom, the slavery whose
alternative is starvation.' — The Leader, April 16//i, 1853.

I think that it is unnecessary for me to add anything
further on this subject, and in support of the proposition
which I have submitted for your lordship's conside-
ration."

Lord B. " Suppose that proposition be admitted, Doc-
tor. What then ? Am I next to be invited to agree with
you that there is no such thing as gradual reform, no
remedy for such evils, except that which is to be found in
revolution and a cheap republic?"

Myself. " By no manner of means. Neither as a re-
medy for these evils, nor as a refuge from the crime, pri-
vation, and suffering, which so extensively prevail in this

BELLY BUCKS VISIT TO ENGLAND.

463

kingdom, would I advise any such rash experiment or
resort. I have no call to preach revolution, and no such
qualifications as should authorize me to set up as a re-
former. Indeed, to be candid, I must confess that I re-
gard the form of government which prevails in my own
country as still an experiment — an experiment the ten-
dency of which, in some parts of our country, according
to present indications, is to urge liberty over that preci-
pice, upon the edge of which constitutional barriers termi-
nate, and into the gulf of license which lies below — an
experiment, the present tendency of which is to agitate
the vessel of State so much as to bring too many of its
dress to the surface. Before we undertake to set our-

selves up as a model, therefore, it behooves us, in my opi-
nion, so to guide our course, and govern ourselves, that,
in avoiding the Scylla by which your vessel is threatened,
we are cast not upon a Charybdis equally as dangerous
and destructive. And I have ventured to tax your lord-
ship's patience with these several conversations (at your
own instance, it is true), not for the purpose of recom-
mending our system as that which should be adopted in
lieu of your own (although, with all its weak points, I
believe it infinitely superior to yours) ; but for the pur-
pose of impressing upon your consideration the force of
the following truths : viz., that the institution of slavery,
whether it be a blessing or a curse, was derived from the
people of England ; that it was incorporated into our
social polity by the mother country ; * that notwithstand-
ing the existence of this institution in our midst, — per-
haps partially because thereof, — our people have greatly
the advantage of that mother country in the elements of
virtue and happiness; that, surrounded as your people
are by the dark mass of evils which I have pointed out,
so much in need of social reform themselves, as to cause
your own moralists to cry out that ' there is no liberty
in England for the poor,' sick almost unto death with
social disease, and unable to heal yourselves, we cannot
confide in your skill as physicians for our body-politic ;

* See Stevens's History of Georgia, pp. 285, 280, 287-308. Also,
App., I.

464

THE SLAVEHOLDER ABROAD.

and that, as a consequence, we have the right to insist
that we may be more safely trusted to apply our own
remedies, in our own time and way, to our institutions,
according as we may think they need ' the amending
hand.' In the mean time, and in view of all these things,
we further insist that it is not modest, sensible, or just,
for your people to obtrude interference in the shape of
passionate appeals for the reform of our institutions from
your philanthropic ladies, or bitter denunciations of us
and those institutions from your anti-slavery gentlemen ;
and that if, nevertheless, such people persist in attempt-
ing to ' pull out the mote ' from our eyes, without first
casting ' out the beam ' from their own, they must expect,
in this connection, to hear those other scriptural words,
'thou hypocrite !' and to be told that ' with what measure
ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.' "

Here ended our conversation ; and here, dear sir, must
end the last letter which I shall, perhaps, ever write to
you from England.

Very respectfully,

Yr. friend and cousin,

P. Jones.

To Major J. Jones,

Pineville, Ga., U. S. of America.

APPENDIX.

A. .

In order that the reader may be aided in the effort to insti-
tute the comparison which has been invited in the preceding
pages, between the state of morals and of crime among the
people of a slaveholding community, and of those of Great
Britain, and be somewhat qualified to form an opinion as to
the effect in this and other respects, of the two systems — the
slaveholding and the free labor — upon the character and hap-
piness of men, I have deemed it advisable to annex a report
made by the Judge of the Middle District in the State of
Georgia, having reference to the state of crime, &c, in that
district during the years 1850, 1851, and 1852, and published
in 1853 and 1854.

" To His Excellency, Howell Cobb, Governor, $c.

§ 1. Sir. — For a part of the time during which I have occupied the
Bench of the Superior Court in this State, I have kept a record of crimi-
nal cases tried before me ; and have obtained information from the evi-
dence submitted, or directly from the accused, enabling me to elicit some
statistical results, which I have thought might possibly be found useful,
if published.

From the accusations before the Superior Courts, of the nine counties
in the Middle District, in the form of indictments, I have also derived
some information from which I have deduced similar results.

Such statistics in other countries, where the law makes a provision by
which they are obtained, have been found of considerable importance.
They have served to suggest reflections of interest to the social, and the
law reformer, to the law-maker, and the law-expoundcr. Though, those
which I present are upon a limited scale, and cannot be expected to be
thus highly important, still they serve to throw some light upon the
character and condition of society in our State ; I have therefore con-
cluded that it would not be amiss to give them publicity. I could think
of no way by which I might effect this better, than by putting them into
the shape of a Report to the Chief Magistrate of our State ; and accord-
ingly, 1 thus submit them to the public.

2E (465)

460

APPENDIX.

I 2. I propose at first to refer only to the accusations made against,
and trials had, of free white persons in the Superior Courts of this Dis-
trict, for the three years 1850, 1851, and 1852. I hope hei-eafter to show
what is the state of crime in this Judicial District among persons of color.

g 3. During the years just specified, there have been 319 accusations in
the form stated against white citizens in this District; being an average
of 106£ per year.

$ 4. The following table will show the centesimal proportion of crimes
contained in these accusations against the person, against society, and
against property ; for the three years stated. Under the head of crimes
against society, I include such offences as bigamy, bastardy, forgery, re-
tailing without a license, uttering counterfeit money, trading with slaves,
&c. Under the head of crimes against property, I place all larcenies,
robbery, malicious mischief, &c.

In every 100 accusations of all kinds there are:

Of crime against the person 48-28

Of crime against society 37-93

Of crime against property 13-79

10000

\ 5. The following table will show the centesimal proportion of the
various accusations filed during these three years. I put them in this form,
thinking that it will be more convenient and useful, than if I were to
give number and detail.

In every 100 accusations of all kinds, there are:

Adultery and fornication 5-53

Affray 1-57

Altering marks of animals -31

Arson -31

Assault and battery, and assault 31*70

Assault with intent to murder 2-50

Assault with intent to commit rape -31

Attempt to excite insurrection* -31

Bastardy -63

Bigamy -63

Cheating and swindling -63

Cruelty to slaves -31

Forgery -63

Forcible entry *63

Gaming 2.19

Having counterfeit bills in possession with intent to pass

the same -31

Harboring a slave , -31

Illegally whipping a slave 1-88

Keeping open a tippling house on the Sabbath-day 2-19

Keeping disorderly houses 1-25

Keeping lewd houses 1 '88

Killing cattle -31

Larceny from the house 3-15

Larceny simple 6*58

Larceny from the person -31

* The offender was a foreigner.

APPENDIX. 467

Malicious mischief. 1-57

Manslaughter *63

Mayhem '31

Murder 3-45

Notorious act of public indecency *63

Perjury "94

Rape -63

Resisting civil officers , -31

Retailing without a license 7 52

Riot -94

Robbery : *31

Stabbing 4-40

Trading with and furnishing liquor to slaves 8-77

Uttering base coin 2-19

Uttering counterfeit bills -31

Vagrancy '31

Violating graves "94

100-00

§ 6. It will be found in the above table, that crimes against the person
greatly preponderate ; assaults and batteries, and assaults (which are the
slightest offences against the person) constituting almost one-third in
every hundred offences.

Of the accusations involving charges of mu.der, not more than one
could be considered as premeditated murder. The remainder were cases
of death resulting from fighting in hot blood. It follows, therefore
(there being 11 charges of murder in the 319), that in every 100 accusa-
tions of all kinds, there are of murder premeditated only 31-100 of a
case, or less than 10 in every 100 accusations involving the charge of
murder.

It will be perceived, that of offences against the person, the charge of
stabbing bears the larger proportion next to assaults and batteries. The
freqiieucy of the offence, committed as it is with a knife or other deadly
instrument, is suggestive of the too prevalent habit of carrying such
weapons in our State.

§ 7. Of offences against Society, it will be seen that trading with and
furnishing spirituous liquors to slaves, and retailing without a license,
are the most common, the first being in the proportion of 8-77 in every
100 of all crimes, and the latter in the proportion of 7-52.

§ 8. Of offences against property, the most common is the crime of
simple larceny, which is in the proportion of 6-58 in every 100 offences
of all descriptions. It is proper to remark, however, that of these 5-33,
or all but 1-25, are found in the county of Richmond alone, where the
principal town in the District is situated, (a town of some 15,000 inhabi-
tants at this time, I believe), and where — as similar statistics in other
countries show — that state of society exists (I am not sure, but I should be
justifiable in saying, that peculiar result of civilization is found) which
seems most prolific of theft. But I will have more to say and show on
this subject by-and-by, when I shall come to compare these tables with
those similar statistics in other countries.

\ 9. I find by the United States Census returns filed in your Excel-
lency's department, and published by authority of our General Assembly,

468

APPENDIX.

that there were at that time in the nine counties of this District, a white
population of 37,278 souls.

$ 10. It is evident, therefore, that for the three years specified, there
has been one accusation against a white person to every 350 57 of the
white population.

§ 11. It has been seen that the mass of these consists of assaults and
batteries, misdemeanors, and other minor offences not felonies, or punish-
able by imprisonment in the penitentiary. Of felonies, or offences so
punishable, there are about 1-5 of the whole number, or 20 felonies in
100 offences of all kinds, or one felony in about every 1750 of the white
population.

J 12. Of the whole number of these accusations, I find that 296 are
against males, and 23 against females, or one accusation against a woman
to every 13-87 males.

Nearly all the crimes committed by females are by abandoned women
in the principal town of the District. But 7 out of 319 are charges
against women who live in the country.

The following table will show the centesimal proportion of accusations

against males and females.

In every 100 accusations, there are:

Offences committed by males 92-79

Offences committed by females 7-21

100-00

In every 100 accusations, there are:

Offences against the person by males 9611

Offences against the person by females 3-89

100-00

In every 100 accusations, there are:

Offences against property by males 97-73

Offences against property by females 2*27

100 00

In every 100 accusations, there are :

Offences against society by males 86-78

Offences against society by females 13-22

100-00

g 13. The record of trials affords us tabular results quite as interesting.
For example, we find that in every 100 cases which have been tried in

this District, there are accused :

Natives of the Southern States 83-33

Natives of the Northern States , 3-70

Natives of foreign countries 12-97

100 00

\ 14. We also find that in every 100 cases tried, there are:

Married persons 63-46

Unmarried persons 36-64

100 00

APPENDIX.

469

\ 15. In every 100 person? tried there are :

Persons who can read and write badly 18-31

Persons who can read and write indifferently well 32-69

Persons who can read and write very well 16-31

Persons who are good scholars 1-92

Persons who cannot read or write 30-77

100-00

g 16. In every 100 persons tried, there are:

Persons over 15 and under 20 years old 3-85

Persons over 20 and under 30 years old 46*15

Persons over 30 and under 40 years old 28-85

Persons over 40 and under 50 years old 7.69

Persons over 50 and under 60 years old 13-46

100 00

§17. In every 100 cases tried of all kinds there have been 33-33 cases
with which the evidence connected the use of spirituous liquors as a
cause; or just one-third. And in every 100 cases of crimes against the
person, there have been 46-16 cases with which the evidence connected
the use of spirituous liquors as a cause. By which it appears that nearly
one half of the crimes against the person are more or less attributable to
spirituous liquors.

\ 18. In every 100 cases which have been tried, there have been :

Pleas, or verdicts of Guilty, in 68-52

Verdicts of Not Guilty, in 31-48

100 00

\ 19. It is true that these tables would be more satisfactory, and more
nearly approach accuracy, if the instances on which they are based were
more numerous, and the field of observation wider. Still, as they are,
they afford some approximation to correctness of result, something from
which practical inferences can be drawn. Such calculations should never
be expected to point with positive accuracy to truth, but only to indicate
it with an approach to such accuracy.

Certain it is, that some of the data from which the above conclusions
are derived, are more numerous and accurate than many of a similar
kind from which Messrs. Beaumont and De Tocqueville deduce their re-
sults in their famous treatise on crime in America.

I hope, with the aid of these gentlemen and others, to compare some
of the results above obtained with similar statistics in other States and
countries.

\ 20. One of the first features in the tables which I have presented
that prominently attracts our attention, is the very considerable prepon-
derance of crimes against the person.

What does this indicate? As compared with similar calculations in
other civilized countries, what observation should be made upon it ? If
these crimes against the person were of an atrocious character and not
chiefly assaults and batteries, or other minor offences, I should hesitate
before agreeing that it was not to be regarded as a sign of a people more
or less barbarous, as compared with other civilized States. It is proper
to remark, however, that calculations based upon statistics in latter
years, especiallv as regards societv in America, do not show that crimed

470

APPENDIX.

against the person are fewest where civilization (especially that which
consists with the highest degree of education) has most extended its
influences.

Figures clearly show this in many places. For example, the tables of
M. Guerry in his " Statistique Morale de France," a work published
about 20 years since, show " that while crimes against the person are
the most frequent in Corsica, the Provinces of the Southeast, and Alsace,
where the people are well instructed, there are the fewest of these crimes
in Berri, Limousin, and Brittany, where the people are most ignorant.

Again, we find MM. Beaumont and De Tocqueville saying, when speaking
of crime in the United States, " Thus not only do two States out of three
present a greater proportion of individuals condemned for crimes against
the person in 1830 than in 1790," (when the writer supposes the States
were less civilized than in 1830.) "but in 1830, that State where we find
the greatest number of such offences is the State of Connecticut, w hich
in point of education and intelligence (en fait a" instruction et de lumiercs)
occupies the first rank in the whole Union; and the State which has
fewest crimes against the person is the State of Pennsylvania, where the
population is comparatively ignorant." — Beaumont et De Tocqueville,
System Penitentiare, Vol. II., p. 263.

At another place on the same page, these writers say, 4iit has been
generally considered in Europe, that as a society advances in civilization,
the number of crimes against the person diminishes. The statistics
which we have to present, prove, that in America at least this is not true.
We see, on the contrary, that in Pennsylvania the number of crimes
against the person does not diminish with time, and that, in the States
of Connecticut and New York, according as civilization advances, these
offences seem to increase with it. This increase takes place in a manner
equal and uniform ; it is difficult to attribute it to chance."

Thus we see that an increase of crimes against the person with us is
not, necessarily, evidence of a low state of morals and civilization.

\ 21. Though this be true, still I think that if connected with this
considerable preponderance of crime against the person in our district,
the statistics which I present exhibited many such offences of an aggra-
vated and atrocious character (instead of an almost entire absence of
such cases), it would he legitimate to conclude therefrom, that this state
of facts indicates an inferior state of morals and civilization.

As it is, I think we are only authorized to infer from it, that our people
are tenacious of a reputation for courage, that they are resentful of in-
sults, are fond of indulgence in spirituous liquors, and when under this
influence are too apt to give and to resent real or fancied insults ; that
they are a people of quick passions without malice, as the general rule,
and though often erring while under the effects of intoxication or passion,
are without that brutality, that induration of moral perception in which
so many horrrible crimes have their origin in other countries; especially
in France and England. That notwithstanding the fact, that as a whole,
they do not reach a very high standard of education, yet that there is
among them a general diffusion of Christian and moral influence, and
sentiments, and that they are not urged by oppressive institutions, nor
want and starvation into those desperate or depraved habits, which de-
grade and brutalize the human being; and out of which these terrible
crimes arise, as the reeking vapors ascend from the dunghill.

We shall be confirmed in this view by observing the exceedingly small

APPENDIX.

471

number of crimes Against property, and the comparatively small number
of aggravated cases of crimes against society, which these statistics
present.

3 22. The next remark which the subject calls for, is, that the number
of accusations in proportion to the white population, at first impresses one
as greater than we have the right to expect from other circumstances
which come under our notice.

If we contrast this with the number of crimes in France, in proportion
to the population, as shown by M. Guerry's tables, in the work already
referred to, the comparison will appear to be greatly in favor of that
couutry. But this aspect will not bear close scrutiny. Such examination
will show a better state of morals in our community than in highly
civilized France. .

It will be found, by looking to the tables which I have presented, that
the great majority of accusations with us, are for minor offences; such
as assaults and batteries, retailing without license, trading with slaves,
petit larcenies, and other inconsiderable misdemeanors ; there being very
few atrocious crimes of any description, especially such crimes as pre-
meditated murder (or assassination as the French call it), death from
poison, parricide, crimes against children, rapes, arson, burglary, &c. ;
whilst ML Guerry's tables groan under the weight of many such ; and
they may be said indeed to constitute a very large proportion of the
crimes in France.

As I have already shown, in our community, the felonies of all descrip-
tions amount to only about one-fifth of the accusations.

\ 23. As compared with England and Wales, the number of crimes is
very largely in our favor.

I find, that in the year 1840 there were, in England and Wales, about
86,561 committals. The population at that time was about 15,000,000,
and this gives us about one committal or accusation to every 173-28 of
the population. — Chambers's Information for the People, Vol. I., p. 46;
1st Am. Ed.

From other sources, it is easy to learn that the proportions of crimes to
the population in England is much greater than with us ; and among the
offences in England and Wales are crimes, the most revolting to humanity,
parricides, murders of children by parents, (driven to desperation and
madness by want and starvation), shocking mutilations of tender infants,
premeditated murders of wife by husband, and husband by wife, viola-
tions of females ending in murder, deaths by poison, and by starvation,
atrocious burglaries consummated by murder, and other such crimes. Let
it not be supposed, that the view of this subject which these statistics
furnish, would be changed if the number of crimes committed by persons
of color constituted an element in our calculations. I am prepared, at the
proper time, to show, that, in proportion to the population, there are fewer
crimes among our slaves than among the whites ; and that a report of
crimes among the slaves in our district will be found almost, if not quite,
as favorable, as that given by Sir Charles Lyell in his last book of travels
in this country, of the 500 slaves on the estate of Mr. James Hamilton
Couper of our State.

g 24. The next feature in these tables worthy of your Excellency's
attention is the smallness of the number of females charged with crime,
in our community. That number is only 7 21 in every 100 accusations.

Now, from Sir Henry L. Bulwer's "France, Social, Literary, and Po-

472

APPENDIX.

litical," p. 143, we learn, that "in the committals in England and Wales,
the females are in the proportion of 1 to 3." From a note on the same
page we learn, that " in 100 crimes against the person, the men are guilty
of 86, the women of 14. Of 100 crimes against property, the men com-
mit 79, the women 21."

From another source we learn, that " the proportion of females to
males in committals (England and Wales) for thefts without violence, is
as 84 to 73, a difference of one-sixth against females." — Chambers's Infor-
mation for the People, Vol. I., p. 461 ; 1st Am. Ed.

From another we ascertain, that from 1827 to 1831, in Connecticut,
there was 1 white woman committed to 16-44 whites of both sexes; or 1
white woman to 15-44 of males: in Pennsylvania, in the year 1830, there
was 1 white woman committed to 15-64 of both sexes, or 14-64 males. —
Beaumont et De Tocqueville, Systeme Penitentiare auz Etats Unis, p. 271.

Let us observe first, the wonderful difference in our favor in this respect,
when compared with France and England, the two most civilized nations
of Europe. In France, the committals of females are as 1 woman to 3
males ; in England and Wales, as 1 to 5 ; with us they are as 1 to more
than 13. This simple circumstance is significant of a very great difference
between our society, and that of those two countries.

Here is a fact, prominent, indisputable, which gives evidence in our
favor of a great moral advantage ; which proves — whatever they may say
of our civilization, and the structure of our society — that moral degrada-
tion and crime, as compared with them, have made but little inroad upon
the mothers of our State.

In this respect, we can compare favorably even with "the land of steady
habits." The statistical results above given, as to Connecticut, it is true,
are very nearly similar to those which our tables present ; but it should
be recollected that the statistics, furnished by the French writer, refer to
the whole State, while mine go only to nine counties of our State, em-
bracing one of the only two cities in the State of more than 10,000 in-
habitants, out of which city arise 16 (or nearly two-thirds) of the 23
offences shown to have been committed by females. And these 16 aro
principally by lewd women of the town, several of whom were natives of
the Northern States.

In the rural portions of the district, which contain more than one-half
the population, only about one-third of the offences which are committed,
are committed by women.

This plainly authorizes the conclusion, that, if an average were taken
of the whole State, it would be greatly in favor of our population over
Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in this regard.

If it be thought, that this comparison is not entirely fair, because out
of our calculations the negro women are omitted, whilst the laboring
peasantry are of course included in the foreign statistics, and that among
them these crimes may be chiefly found, 1 again suggest, that I hope
hereafter to give a statement of crimes among persons of color in our
district, and in the meantime, I declare, that facts and figures show with-
out the least doubt, that among the negro women of our district, there
arc by far, fewer crimes than among the whites, and that if I were to
present this comparison with reference to the whole population, the result
would be still more remarkably in our favor.

# 25. Another feature in the statistics to which I have called your
attention, is the proportion of foreigners accused, to the natives. This

APPENDIX.

473

proportion is very large, being 12 -97, or (discarding the minute fraction)
13 in every 100 offences.

In a calculation which I have made, based upon a statement which has
been kindly prepared for me under the directions of Major Zachary, the
worthy Principal Keeper of our Penitentiary, I find the ratio of foreigners
imprisoned there, to the number of convicts, natives of the United States,
as something less.

I take occasion here (while alluding to this Penitentiary record) to say,
that I hope in some subsequent number to present the results in
the form of tables (similar to those which I have presented in my first
number), derived from this State Prison summary. In the mean time, I
shall refer to it in aid of the observations I am making upon the Statistics
which I have already published.

This record from our Penitentiary showa the proportion of foreigners
to be as 7-20 in every 100.

As a sort of disturbing force to the conclusion, derived from this record,
I find — by the returns of the United States census of 1850 for our State —
that there were reported 85 convictions in the year, 66 of which were
natives, and 19 foreigners. Also, that on the 1st of June, 1850, there
were in prison 34 natives and 7 foreigners.

This exhibits a wonderful disproportion of foreigners to natives, taking
into consideration the relative numbers of the population, foreign and
native ; the convictions showing one foreigner to about every 3-50 natives,
and the accusations 1 to about 5.

These returns, however, seem to be incomplete, and derived from a
portion of the counties only; and should not, therefore, probably, be
taken into the account.

Let us then take the very lowest ratio exhibited, viz. : that shown by
the record from our Penitentiary, where we have 7*20 foreigners born
out of the Union in every 100 convictions, or 9 out of the whole number,
125, and consider the subject with reference to that proportion.

By the United States census returns for our State, I find, that in 1850
the foreign population, or number of our inhabitants born out of the
United States, was 5907. Since that time, this population has very much
increased. I find by the sexton's report for the city of Augusta, during
the past year, that the deaths and burials of foreigners in the city have
considerably more than doubled since 1850; and this population has pro-
bably, therefore, more than doubled in this place, since that year.

The intelligent officer at present occupied in taking the city census, has
satisfied me by other facts which he has brought to my attention, that
this population has more than doubled in Augusta since that date. This
is also true, no doubt, of other cities in the State. The increase, how-
ever, is very much confined to the towns, and is slight elsewhere.

On the whole, I think that I shall not be far from the truth in assuming
that the number of such persons in our State, at present, is very nearly
10,000.

Now, according to the census returns, the free white population of our
State in 1850 was 521,438. From this let us deduct the number of for-
eigners at the time, viz. : 5907, and we have in round numbers a native
white population of 515,000. From among these 515,000 natives, then,
40*

4:74:

APPENDIX.

came the 116 native convicts in the Penitentiary, while from the 10,000
foreigners came the nine convicts born out of the United States.

This, it will be perceived, gives one conviction of a native to every 4956
of the native population, and one conviction of a foreigner to every 1111
of the foreign population, or four of the latter to one of the former, taking
into consideration the relative proportion of the population, foreign and
native. Iu this estimate, it will be seen, we have not taken into account
the increase of the native white population since 1850.

I have not time to dwell upon the practical reflections to which these
results give rise, but must for the present leave them with the reader.

Before taking leave of this subject, however, I desire to remark, that
Beaumont and De Tocqueville, in their Systeme Penitentaire, &c, show
that at the time when they wrote, in the States of Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, the number of persons
born out of the United States, in the State prisons of these States, was
as 14 in every 100 imprisoned [Beaumont et de Tocqueville, Systeme Peni-
tent iare ; Par. edit. 1836, vol. 2, p. 500), a result very similar to that
which the record from this district, as presented by me, shows, viz. : 13
in every 100 imprisonments.

I tind also from the same source, and same page, that in the States
referred to, the number of persons, natives of the State in which they
were tried, in the State Prisons, were as 53 in every 100 of all otfences,
and the number of persons, natives of other States of the United States,
were as 33 in every 100; while the record kept by me shows 55 natives
of the State and 32 natives of other States in every 100 tried — a result
very nearly coincident.

At the same place, these writers compare the number of foreigners tried
in France in proportion to natives, with what is shown (as above) as true
of the United States, and say that —

The number of foreigners in France to the total accused is as 3 to 100.

The number of accused born in the department where tried, is to the
whole as 72 to 100.

The number of accused born out of the department, but in France, is
as 23 to 100.

This table shows many more natives accused of crime, much fewer
foreigners, and considerably fewer persons born in other sections of the
country than with us.

Messrs. Beaumont and De Tocqueville think that this result is owing
to the fact that the population iu France is "infinitely more sedentary"
than with us. There can be no doubt, that this in part accounts for the
difference; but whilst it does this, it also illustrates in part, the difference
in the moral condition of the two countries, especially when we take in
connection with it the reflection, that the record which I have presented,
and by which we make this comparison, exhibits few or none of those
revolting crimes which appear so prominently in the criminal calendar
of the French.

\ 26. Another very interesting feature of these statistics is the compa-
rative ages of persons committing crimes. Our tables show, that in this
judicial district 3-85 are between the ages of 15 and 20, 46-15 between
the ages of 20 and 30, 28 85 between 30 and 40, 7-69 between 40 and 60,
13 -4b between 50 and 00,

APPENDIX.

475

The record from our Penitentiary furnishes the following table: —
Convicts between 15 and 21 in every 100 19-20
'« 21 and 30 " " 35-20
30 and 40 « " 22-40
40 and 50 " » 12 00

M " 50 and 60 " " 6-40

" " 60 and 70 " 4 80

100-00

It appears by the record referred to, that of the above there are 13-40
who are between 18 and 21, or nearly 20 years of age, and only 5-80 who
are under 18.

A table is furnished by Beaumont and De Tocqueville, at pp. 281, 282 of
their work, heretofore cited by me, showing the ages of offenders in the
States of N. York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut, as follows:

Prisoners less than 20 years old ....t 1 in 10 or 10-00

between 20 and 30 1 in 2 or 50-00

30 and 40 1 in 5 or 20-00

40 and 50 1 in 9 or 11-11

50 and 60 1 in 25 or 4-00

The rest are above 60 years old.

A similar table is furnished by these writers, showing the ages of offen-
ders in France, as follows: —

Convicts less than 21 years of age 1 in 5 or 20-00

between 21 and 30 1 in 3 or 33-33

30 and 40 1 in 4 or 25 00

40 and 50 1 in 8 or 12-50

50 and 60 1 in 18 or 5.56

60 and 70 1 in 46 or 2-17

The number above 70, they say, is something, but so small as to make
record useless.

In Chambers's " Information for the People," I find the following table
compiled for England in the year 1838: —

Offenders under 12 years old 1-58

between 12 and 16 9-92

17 and 21 29-13

22 and 30 31-24

" 31 and 40 14-75

" 41 and 50 7-02

51 and 60 3-00

" above 60 1-58

Not ascertained 1-78

100 00

In theBritish Almanac for 1845, 1 find a similar table for 1843, as follows :

Offenders aged under 15 years 5-7

" between 15 and 20 22-7

20 and 25 24-3

25 and 30 14-9

30 and 40 16-4

40 and 50 8-1

" " 50 and 60 3-5

above 60 1-9

Not ascertained , 2-5

100 00

476

APPENDIX.

\ 27. A comparison of these statistics, coming as they do from such
different communities of men, and at different periods of time, is not a
little useful. Such comparison serves very forcibly to show the approxi-
mation to accuracy of result, and consequent reliability of such statistical
tables. By it we find, what an English writer calls " wonderfully uniform
results as to age," just where character, habits, structure of society, &c,
may be supposed to operate with least influence ; and just such variations
elsewhere as serve, to a certain extent, to illustrate the difference in the
character, habits, and condition of the people.

We observe at a glance, in these tables, how true it is, as Sir H. L.
Bulwer somewhere says, that such statistics everywhere show that, the
greatest number of crimes are committed by persons at a period of life
"when the faculties are most developed, and the passions most strong."

But let us first compare the record as taken from our Penitentiary with
the French table, and we will find with us, 19-20 offenders under 21 years
of age, or about 1 in 5. In Fiance we find 1 in 5. We have with us
offenders between 21 and 80 years of age, 35-20, or nearly 1 to 3. In
France we find 33-33, or 1 in 3. With us there are offenders between 30
and 40 years old, 22-40, or something more than 1 in 4. In France,
25 100, or 1 in 4. With us 12-00 are between 40 and 50, or nearly 1 in 8.
In France, 12-50, or just 1 in 8.

\ 28. If with the French and our tables, we now compare the table (as
above given) for the Northern States, we shall find a considerable differ-
ence in the first proportion stated, that is to say, of persons under 20 and
21, and this of course affects the ratio of the next proportion, viz.: the
ages between 30 and 40. In the American table, we find that the age
taken is 20 years, and in our Penitentiary and France it is 21 years. By
the first we find, that offenders in the States mentioned, under 20 years
old, are as 1 in 10, and between 20 and 30, as 1 in 2, whilst with us and
in France, offenders under 21 are as 1 in 5, and between 21 and 30, as
1 in 3.

In commenting on this difference, as between the French and the Ame-
rican tables, which they exhibit, Beaumont and De Tocqueville, at p. 302,
vol. ii. of their work, say that " it is the displacing of a year which
causes the difference observable; a difference only apparent."

If this be so, there is indeed a very surprising coincidence in these
results. Even if they be wrong in this, still there remain many striking
features of similarity.

Z 29. When we bring the English tables (above given) into comparison
with the others, a remarkable difference is ohservable, to the advantage
of the French and our own people.

We find from one of the above tables, taken from English authority,
that out of every 100 offenders, there are 40-63, or about 1 to every 2}
under 21 years of age. Of these, 1-58 were under 12 years, and 9-92,
or nearly \ in 10, between 12 and 18. With us there are about 1 in 5
only under 21; 5 80, or about 1 in 20, between 15 and 18, and none
under 15 years old.

We have Heard much about the number of "juvenile delinquents" in Eng-
land, but a comparison of their criminal statistics with other countries
exhibits this in so prominent a manner, as to sadden and shock — as to excite
the wondering thought, of how it is possible, that a hard-thinking, practi-
cal, unimpassioncd people like the English, in the face of the stubborn and
alarming evidence, which this and other features of their criminal statistics

APPENDIX.

477

(such as the large number of awfully brutal male offenders, the great
proportion of female criminals, the deep depravity and fiendish cruelty
of some of them) exhibit, as to the degree and extent of their national
immorality, can " thank God that thej'are not as other men," or even as
the poor slaveholder, and can warn unhappy slaveholders (as does one of
their greatest men, Earl Carlisle, in his preface to 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'),
not "to lay the unction to their souls, that the common run of mechanics
and laborers in England are on a level of suffering and degradation with
the slave on a rice swamp in Carolina, or at a sugar-crop time in Lou-
isiana, kc "

One would think that, instead of wasting their energies in sympathy
for people who are so much less immoral, brutal, and depraved than
themselves, and leaving such to deal with their national ills as they best
can, they would bring all their resources to bear upon the reform of those
social evils in their own system, which, in the voices of the weak and
helpless, are crying to Heaven for redress — that they would give all that
they can spare of what Lord Carlisle calls "the warmth of sympathy
and ardor of humanity" to stay the bloody hands of their starving and
brutal "common run" of adult male criminals; and especially to hold
them up from injuries to helpless women and infants — to save from
famine and cruelty, crime aud its consequences, the miserable little pau-
per children who swarm throughout the kingdom, and to turn back or
away, from an earthly hell of want, and crime, and degradation, the
broad and deep stream of mothers and wives, sisters and daughters, which
has been so long pouring into that dread abysm in England.

\ 30. So far as the statistics which I present are significant, there is
no evidence afforded, by the record of trials before me, that the influence
of marriage has the effect of lessening crime.

It will be observed that, in the cases referred to, in every 100 offenders
sixty-six were married and thirty-three were unmarried. This would
seem rather to encourage the idea that crimes with us are more frequent
among married than among single persons. But this would not be just.

I have thought there was some cause to disturb the accuracy of the
report in this particular. The judge was compelled, in many instances,
when the prisoner was a stranger in the community, to rely upon him for
this information ; and when he had been convicted, there was always a
strong motive to represent himself as a man of family, so as to appeal
thereby to the sympathy of the Court when sentence should be pro-
nounced. In this way, wrong statements have sometimes been made, as
I have reason to believe.

The record from our penitentiary shows, that considerably the larger
proportion of convicts are unmarried. This may be relied on, without
doubt.

Other reports, from other prisons in the United States, show the fact,
that the- larger proportion of convicts are unmarried. The whole going
to prove that the sacred influence of woman in our country is, to a cer-
tain extent, operating, wherever it can be exerted in the family circle, to
lessen vice and elevate the moral character of the other sex.

I will add, too, in proof of this, that in some prisons, where pains
have been taken to obtain this information, it has been ascertained that
a large proportion of convicts had lost their parents (the mother's influ-
ence was, without doubt, the chief loss) while yet in tender years. See,
for example, Letter from Mr. Barrett (chaplain, etc.) to Beaumont and
De Tocqueville. — Systeme Penitentiaire, p. 231, Vol. II.

478

APPENDIX.

§ 31. I next approach the subject of most interest, perhaps, connected
with this report: viz., the influence of education upon crime.

It must be confessed, that criminal records, in this regard, do not afford
that plain and simple testimony to the fact that ignorance and vice go
hand in hand together, which is expected by the intelligent thinker who
for the first time examines the subject. The true explanation is, that
what is called education — that is to say, teaching men to read and write,
and cast up accounts, — does not, as all experience shows, prevent men
from committing crime. These capacities, in fact, enlarge the field of
operations by creating additional resources, hold out new temptations
and inducements to unprincipled persons, and thus add sometimes to the
stock of crimes. That sort of education which lessens crime must be of
a higher character — must, while it trains the intellect, also discipline the
affections, and restrain and direct the passions. Hence it is, that we find,
in the list of criminals, so many offenders who can read and write very
well, and yet so few who are highly educated. The latter class of per-
sons are almost always (certainly in our country) among those whose
religious and moral training have been cared for by their parents, or
others, as part of their education.

On this subject, the report which I have presented from this district
shows, that in every 100 persons tried, there are 30-72 who could not
both read and write, 51 who could read and write badly and imperfectly,
16-34 who could read and write very well, and only 1-92 who were good
scholars.

The record from our penitentiary presents us with the following result:

Prisoners who cannot both read and write, in every 100... 35-20

Prisoners who can read and write badly 16 00

Prisoners who can read and write imperfectly 44 00

Prisoners who have received a liberal education 4 80

100-00

It is evident, from the above, that the capacity to read and write in
our State, as in other places, is not evidence of that sort of education
which diminishes crime.

Similar observations have been made as to other of the United States.
For example, we find Beaumont and De Tocqueville saying, at p. 302,
Vol. hi Par. Ed. 1836, of their work, when speaking of this subject in
the United States, "It may seem that a State having every vent for its
industry and its agriculture will commit less crime than another, which,
equally enjoying these advantages, does not equally enjoy the advan-
tages of intelligence and enlightenment. Nevertheless, we do not think
that you can attribute the diminution of crime in the North to instruction,
because, in Connecticut, where there is far more instruction than in New
York, crime increases with extreme rapidity ; and if one cannot accuse
knowledge as the cause of this, one is obliged to acknowledge that it is
not a preventive."

The instruction here referred to, as the basis of these conclusions, is
instruction in the lower branches of education only.

Ed France, the tables of M. Guerry, already referred to, show, os, in
a previous number, I have suggested, that crimes against the person are
mo-t frequent in the provinces where the people are well instructed; and
that, as for crimes against property, it is almost invariably those depart-
ments that are the best intormcd which are the most criminal.

APPENDIX.

479

Here, again, the test of instruction was "the list of those returned to
the minister of war, at the period of conscription, as able to read and
write."

Mr. Rawson, Secretary of the Statistical Society of London, has found
that, of every 100 offenders in England and Wales, 35-4 could neither
read nor write, 54-2 could read and write iniperfectlj*, 10 could read and
write well, and only 4-10, or £ per cent., had received a liberal
education.

In Scotland, out of 8907 offenders, 20-2 per cent, could neither read
nor write. 59-2 could read and write imperfectly, 18 2 could read and
write well, and 2-4 had received a liberal education.

The reader will perceive that this report of Mr. Rawson also sustains
and confirms what has been above said and shown in relation to this
subject.

Let not any good citizen be startled bythese considerations, and dis-
couraged in his strong desire to promote the cause of education — the
general diffusion of elementary learning among the people. Rather let
all good citizens co-operate to lay down this basis as one which is abso-
lutely necessary for the great superstructure of moral and religious
truths which should constitute our civilization.

In such a social edifice, erected on such a foundation, crime can find
no fit abode. But the rude foundation of elementary knowledge, instead
of excluding, may but give shelter to unclean things.

Messieurs Beaumont and De Tocqueville, though somewhat puzzled
by the conclusions to which they were brought by the facts which
they furnished, yet do not doubt the happy influence upon man of
proper education: and they take occasion to say that "instruction,
wherever it has no distinct groundwork in religious faith, creates a crowd
of new wants, which, if not satisfied, urge those who experience them
into crime. It multiplies social ties ; it is the soul of commerce, and of
industry ; it creates thus among men a thousand occasions of fraud, or
bad faith, which are not found among an ignorant and a rustic people.
In this way, it is natural that it should rather augment than diminish
the number of crimes. This point, indeed, now-a-days, seems generally
conceded ; for in Europe it has been observed that crimes are on the
increase, for the most part, in those countries where instruction is most
general. However, on this occasion, we express our opinion entirely in
favor of education. To us, its advantages appear infinitely superior to
its inconveniences. It develops the arts, and sustains all the industries.
It fosters, thus, the moral force and the physical well-being of the
people. The passions which it excites, fatal to society when things go
wrong, become prolific of advantages when they are able to attain the
prize at which they aim. Thus, instruction, it is true, opens up some
sources of corruption among men, but it is it, also, which obtains for the
people most wealth and most prosperity. To a nation surrounded by
enlightened neighbors, it is not onl}T a luxury, but it is a political neces-
sity."— Note, Sur V instruction aux Etats Unis, piece 5.

On this subject. Sir H. L. Bulwer, remarking on the similar facts to
those which we have been observing, says, very happily, "In giving
instruction, we create a power which, if left to itself, may produce more
good than evil — which will always produce good with evil, but which it
is still our duty to govern and direct, in order to produce as much good,

480

APPENDIX.

as little evil, as possible; and if we wish to make ourselves sure of its
results — if we wish from afar to see, to regulate, and to rejoice in its
effects, we must not only fill the mind — we must form the character; we
must not only give ideas — we must give habits," etc.

These are very important facts for the consideration of our people.
Important, not only because that this education of the heart, as well as
the intellect, is of so much influence in lessening crime and immorality,
but important, also, because, with us, as citizens of a republic, it is (what
Beaumont and De Tocqueville suggest the education of the mind may be,
in some other States) a "political necessity."

On a pure and intelligent franchise must rest all free institutions. It
cannot be thus pure and intelligent without the education of the affec-
tions and passions, as well as of the minds, of those who exercise it.
"Without such education, the people must be more or less at the mercy of
demagogues and time-serving politicians — of political quacks and impos-
tors. In this view it was, that Chief Justice Marshall proclaimed, that
11 virtue and intelligence are the foundation of our liberty."

Would that every American citizen would reject the vain and braggart
thought, that our own country has already solved the problem of man's
competency for self-government; and might realize the great truth in his
heart of hearts, that virtuous education, and it only, under God, affords
the key to the solution of this mighty problem !

His Excellency, H. V. Johnson, Governor, $c.

j 1. Sir. — While one of the Judges presiding in the Superior Courts
of our State, I addressed to the predecessor of your Excellency, several
numbers which related to the Statistics of Crime, as collected from judicial
proceedings, in the Middle District, as well as from the records of our
Penitentiary.

In consequence of the absorbing interest which the political excitement
of the past Summer and Autumn was creating in the public mind, as well
as in consideration of my own pressing engagements, I paused in the
course of publication which I was giving to a consideration of this subject.

In the hope that it may not be without some service, I now resume that
subject, and continue it in the shape first given to it, viz. : an unofficial
report to the Governor.

Since my last communication, I have obtained Statistics of Crime in
Great Britain and France, so recent as the year 1851 ; and thus I am
enabled to compare the state of crime in those countries at this late date,
with what our records furnish about the same time.

\ 2. From the "Companion to the Year Book of General Information,"
published in London in the year 1853, I am enabled to furnish the follow-
ing report:

Number of persons committed or bailed in England and Wales in the
year 1851, 27,960.

APPENDIX.

481

Of these there were :

Offences against the person 2,218

" property 2,000

" " accompanied with violence ... 21,90(3

Malicious offences against property 305

Forgery, and offences against currency 808

Other offences 663

27,960

Offences committed by males 22,391

" M females 5,569

27,960

§ 3. Number of committals, &c, during the same year, in Scotland,

4,001.

Of these there are :

Offences against the person 981

M property, with violence 665

" " without violence 1,923

Malicious offences against property 054

Forgery, and crimes against currency 126

Other offences 252

4,001

\ 4. Offences committed by males 2,892

" females 1,109

4,001

\ 5. Offenders under 16 years of age 509

Offenders who could neither read nor write 830

" " read and write imperfectly 2,378

well 716

" of superior education 77

4,001

\ 6. As verifying previous observations made by me on this subject, I
desire to call the attention of your Excellency to the fact, that in England
and Wales, as in Scotland, a very great disproportion exists between
crimes against the person and against property — the latter predominating
in a remarkable degree. It will be remembered, possibly, that we find in
our State, crimes against the person to be about 48 in every 100, those
against property about 38 in 100, and those against society about 14 in
every 100.

The great number of crimes against property of an atrocious character,
which are almost all those accompanied by violence, (chiefly burglaries
and robberies no doubt), thus shown to have been committed in England
and Wales in 1851, also verifies an observation previously made by me,
viz. : that criminals in these countries appear to be rendered depraved
and desperate by want, to an extent unknown among us.

41 2f

482

APPENDIX.

\ 7. Let us now contrast some of the tables which we may frame from
this report of crime in Great Britain, with similar details as furnished by
me from the records of our State,

1. It will be observed that the above report shows, that of the crimes
committed in England and Wales, 24, or about 1 in 4, are committed by
women ; and in Scotland, 88, or about 1 in every 2§ are committed by
women.

Now it will be found by the report which I furnish, that there are with
us, to 1 crime perpetrated by women, more than 13 crimes committed
by men.

§ 8. 2. We find in Scotland, in 1851, that, of 4001 committed or bailed,
in every 100 offenders there were less than 16 years old, 12-50, or just
1 in 8.

The record from our Penitentiary shows about 1 in 20 under 18, and
none under 15 years of age.

\ 9. 3. We find also that in Scotland, during this year, there were of
persons committed or bailed :

In every 100 who could not read or write "20

" " read or write imperfectly 60

« M " well 18

" " were superior scholars 2

100

It is curious to see how nearly this table agrees with that furnished by
Mr. Rawson from the criminal records of Scotland some years since, and
already quoted by me. In that it appeared, that there were offenders :

In every 100 who could neither read nor write 20-2

" " read or write imperfectly 59-2

" " " very well 18-2

" M had received a liberal education 2-4

100-0

I have shown from the record furnished me, that in our Penitentiary

in the past year, there were offenders :

In every 100 who could not both read and write 35-20

" " read and write badly and imperfectly.. 60-00
" " had received a liberal education 4-80

100 00

\ 10. I have but one comment to make on the comparison thus insti-
tuted. It confirms what I have already suggested, of the difference
between us and the people of England and Scotland in our social struc-
ture, in comparative education, in the habits, and moral civilization of
the masses, and in the working of our institutions; and it should cause
us to rejoice and be exceeding glad and thankful, that with all our faults
as a people, we are yet spared from those degrading influences which
bring woman down to that degree of awful depravity she has reached in
England and Scotland, and which consigns so many of her little ones to
an early hell of destitution and despair.

APPENDIX. 483

§11. I am indebted to the kindness of a friend in Paris, for a report
made during the past year, to the Emperor of France by Monsieur Abba-
tuec-i, minister in the department of justice, containing statistics of crime
for the years 1850 and 1851. This enables me to compare some features
of the state of crime in that Nation, with what I have shown to have
existed among us about the same period.

§ 12. From this report we learn, that there were implicated before the
Courts of Assize, in France, during the year 1850:

Offenders against the person, 2808; or in every 100 39-00

property, 4324 ; « " 61-90

In 1851 there were:

Offenders against the person, 2773 ; or in every 100 39-30

" property, 4298 ; " " 60-70

100-00

§ 13. In these years there were accused before this tribunal :

Of males, 5931 ; or in every 100 83-90

Of females, 1140; " 16-10

10000

§ 14. As I have shown by previous examination of the subject, the
whole number of crimes in France, as compared with those in England
and Scotland, is small ; but it is still evident, and that from the report
before me, that many atrocious offences abound in that country, such as
are almost unknown in our State. For example, we find that the number
of rapes and attempts to commit rape upon children, during the year
1851, which were before the Courts of Assize, were no less than 615;
being 11-60, or more than 1 in 10 in the whole number of crimes.

This shocking offence is said by the report to have been steadily on the
increase since 1825, and the minister suggests that more severe and
stringent penalties may be required in order to protect society from this
odious crime.

Such an offence is almost unknown among us ; and, indeed, several of
those which appear in the minister's report, are by no means common in
our State.

§ 15. We also ascertain from the above report, that of those criminals
who were thus implicated before the Court of Assize in the year men-
tioned, the proportion of women to men was about 1 to 6, a result cer-
tainly better than we find in Great Britain, but still not so favorable as
among ourselves.

On the whole, however, the aggregate of criminal statistics for these
two years, seems to indicate an improvement in France, since 1830, the
period, of which, and previous to which, Messrs. Beaumont and De Tocque-
ville, aud Sir H. L. Bulwer and others, have given us reports, as I have
shown. I am not surprised at this, in view of the care and pains which
this report of the French minister shows to be taken by his government,
for the purpose of ensuring a wise and accurate administration of criminal
justice. I wish, indeed, that I had more time and room, to dwell upon
some of these interesting features of the report.

\ 16. To one other circumstance I call attention. It is this: In the
year 1851 there were in France 67 convictions in every 100 trials in the

484

APPENDIX.

Court of Assize, and 33 acquittals. And in the report submitted by me
last Spring, it is curious to observe that in the Middle District, during
the period of which report was made, embracing the year covered by the
French Minister's statement, there were (leaving out fractions) about 68
convictions, and 32 acquittals, in every 100 trials.

These very striking coincidences of results, in the operation of laws,
and of human nature, among communities of men. far distant from each
other, and differing in the elements of their social organization in so
many respects, afford useful lessons to the legislator ; and are strongly
suggestive of the fact that, by a careful generalization, such results may
be deduced from the working of laws and constitutions, as will afford
something like accurate guidance to efficient legislation, to judicious re-
forms, and thus to wise and prosperous institutions.

To His Excellency, H. V. Johnson, Governor, $c.

\ 1. I now bring to the notice of your Excellency the state of crime
among the blacks in the nine counties of the Middle Judicial District, in
this State.

I presume, that perhaps this district affords a very fair exponent of the
state of crime among this class of our population throughout the whole
State. In it, we have the second city, in point of population, in the State,
with all its encouragements to crime among these poople. In it, too, we
have the large cotton-planter with his slaves aggregated in masses, and
we have the small farmer of the piny woods, with his few slaves segre-
gated, and living in neighborhoods sparsely populated.

It is proper, too, that I should have mentioned, that I have taken great
pains in collecting the information which I publish. I have not hastily
received and adopted the statement of officers in the several counties, but
have endeavored to procure the exercise of caution and care in the reports
made to me by others.

So far as capital cases were concerned, my task was easy ; for I had
kept memoranda of offences committed by slaves, and which had been
tried in the Superior Courts of the district during the years 1850, 1851,
and 1852 ; the period of time to which I had confined my attention when
reporting the state of crime among white persons. As all other and minor
offences are tried by other tribunals, of course, I have had to depend on
these for information in relation to them ; but I think I have taken the
proper steps to make it reliable.

I have received from the Clerks of the several Superior Courts in tho
district, except Richmond county, certificates of the number of such
offences committed in their respective counties. I have desired these
officers to take their time, and use diligence in procuring the necessary
information from the Justices of the peace in the county, and the result
has been satisfactory. I excepted Richmond county, because I knew
that in the city of Augusta more of such offences had been committed
than elsewhere in the district, and I preferred not only to have the assist-
ance of the Clerk and his deputy, together with the Sheriff, in procuring

APPENDIX.

485

this information, but I was anxious also by personal application, to obtain
a report from the Mayor of Augusta, and the Clerk of Council, of all vio-
lations of public laws, which appeared on the police records of the city,
as well as reports from the police officers in the city, and Justices of the
peace iu the county. In this way I think I have approximated accuracy
in the details which I furnish. 1 add, that I have even asked for infor-
mation in relation to all criminal charges against slaves who may have
been removed without prosecution (if any), and I have taken into the
account the only case of this kind, winch is reported, as having occurred
iu the district, within the period under consideration.

In the statement which I so make, I present all the accusations against
the blacks in the Superior, Inferior, Justices', and Police Courts of this
district, for such violations of public laws as constitute crime in the eye
of the penal law, and all charges of this sort which have been reported
and have not been prosecuted. Thus it will be seen that I have not con-
fined the statement alone to crimes which were prosecuted to conviction, but
I present all accusations which have been reported, however terminating.

$ 2. Of such accusations, during the three years specified, iu the nine
counties of the Middle District, there appear to have been 215 against
blacks, 170 of which were against slaves, and 45 against free persons of
color. Of the 170, there were accusations against females 20, and of the
45, there were against females 19.

By the United States census returns for 1850, there was in these coun-
ties a black population of 44,731 souls, of which 41,100 were slaves, and
631 free persons of color.

The following table will show the centesimal proportion of crimes con-
tained in these accusations against the person, against society, and against
property. I place gambling and harboring of slaves in the catalogue of
crimes against society.

$ 3. In every 100 accusations of all kinds against slaves, there are —

Of crimes against the person 66-47

" " society 31-76

" " property 1-77

100-00

\ 4. In every 100 accusations of all kinds against free persons of color,
there are —

Of crimes against the person , 75-55

" " society 15-56

" " property 8-89

100-00

The following table will exhibit the centesimal proportion of these
various accusations.

\ 5. In every 100 accusations against slaves, there are —

Of murders l-76

rapes , -58

Assault with intent to kill '58

Of larcenies 1 "76

gaming 30-58

harboring slaves 1'21

Assault and battery, or fighting 63-53

100-00

41*

4S6

APPENDIX.

§ 6. In every 100 accusations against free persons of color, there are —

Of larcenies 8-89

gambling 15-56

assault and battery 75-55

100 00

\ 7. Of the above accusations against slaves, there are 4-70 offences in
every 100, which would constitute felonies at common law, or under our
penal codes, that is to say, something less than one-twentieth of the
whole. And of the accusations against free persons of color, there are
in every 100, 8 89 which would be felonies, or about one-twelfth of the
whole.

g 8. In every 100 accusations against slaves, there are —

Charges against males 88-23

" " females 11-77

100-00

\ 9. In every 100 accusations against free persons of color, there are-
Offences charged against males 57-77

" " " females 42-23

100-00

\ 10. As of the 44,731 persons who constitute the black population in
this district, 44,100 are slaves, and 031 free persons of color, it results
from what appears above, that during the years specified, there was an
average of one accusation to about 723 of the slave population, and an
average of one accusation to every 42 of the free blacks.

$11. Before remarking further on these results, I desire to call the
attention of your Excellency to some facts which may inspire confidence
in the approach of something like general accuracy in these statistics of
crime among the blacks

In view of the difficulty in procuring exact returns, because of the fact
that many offences committed by slaves, which would amount to violation
of our penal laws, if committed by whites, are punished by the master or
his agent, and never appear on public records, nor can be reported by
officers of justice; and also, that in serious cases the owner is sometimes
urged by his interests to remove his slave from the State to avoid a pro-
secution, I know it is natural for many persons to suppose that any cal-
culations on this subject must be more or less conjectural, and not to be
relied on as statistics. The comparatively small number of crimes re-
ported, and the extremely favorable character of the results derived from
the report, may also weaken confidence or create surprise.

$ 12. I wish it to be understood, that I do not pretend that the report
which I make is exact ; I only claim for it, that it is not far from accu-
rate, and that it is sufficiently so to allow of such cautious and guarded
practical deductions, as will enable us to generalize conclusions with some
degree of confidence.

# 13. To show that this observation is correct, I call attention to the
following suggestions. Capital cases among slaves and free persons of
color are by our laws tried by the Superior Courts. It is not difficult to
get the records of such trials. If any such cases occur in a district of
nine counties in extent, and are not prosecuted, because of the slave's
removal before arrest, it cannot be difficult for careful inquiry to ascer-

APPENDIX.

487

tain how many of such cases have occurred in three years. None of the
causes above alluded to, as creating obstructions in the way of reaching
aoonrMJ, as to other crimes committed by blacks, apply to such cases,
and we may certainly rely with confidence upon the statements which I
furnish as to these.

Now it appears in the report which I make, that in the whole district
there have been only four capital cases in three years, among a popula-
tion of 44,731 blacks. Three of these cases were tried before the Supe-
rior Court, and in one the slave was removed before arrest. This gives
us in a population of 44,731, just 1^ capital offences per year, or esti-
mating the three years, one capital charge to every 33,548 of the black
population, or taking the centesimal proportion, only 1-86 in every 100
accusations.

By looking to the report made by me of crimes committed in the middle
district by whites, it will be seen that capital cases there are as 3-45 in
every 100 accusations. A greater difference in favor of the blacks, than
is indicated by the whole summary of crimes which I furnish, and which
some may think too small.

§ 14. Let us, in this connection, also examine the French Minister's
report (referred to in my last number), of accusations before the Court
of Assize in France for the year 1851. We know from previous exami-
nation of the subject, that as compared with some other European States,
the total number of crimes is small. And yet we find in the report to
which I have referred, that of 5,287 accusations in 1851, there are of
assassinations and murders, 451; poisoning, 38; infanticide, 164, and
rapes on adults and children, 857; in all amounting to 1510, or some-
thing more than one-fourth of the whole, or 28.56 in every 100 accu-
sations.

When with this we contrast the number of capital cases, viz. : murders,
assaults with intent to kill, and rapes, appearing in my report of crimes
among the blacks, and as to which the report is without doubt accurate,
the difference in favor of our blacks is most surprising, and strongly
tending, I think, to show that the report as to numbers, however favo-
rable, may be not far from correct.

$15. In still further confirmation, I will mention that in pursuit of
information relating to other subjects connected with the institution of
slavery, in the course of the past year, I addressed circular letters to
planters and slave owners, in the several counties of this District, and
while doing so concluded among my questions to embrace the following:
'; Have any of your negroes committed any such crimes as murders, man-
slaughter, mayhem, rape, or any other crime against the person in the
last ten years ? Have any of them committed burglary, robbery, larceny,
or theft, or any such crime against property in the last ten years ? Have
any of them in that time committed any act which would have sent him
or her to the Penitentiary if he or she had been a free white citizen ? If
any of your slaves have been so charged, how many females were so
accused ? Are petty thefts among themselves frequent with your negroes."

At my request, most of the answers to my questions were verified by
riffi'lavit, and are before me in the solemn form of testimony, from some
of our most respectable and intelligent citizens.

g 16. I now refer to the answers of 10 only of these gentlemen. I take
this number for convenience, as the aggregate number of their slaves is
1001. From the report of these gentlemen, it appears that among this

488

APPENDIX.

nuraoer of their slaves, for ten years preceding the past year, 1853, there
have been 1 case of burglary, 1 case of larceny from the house, 1 of
simple larceny, and 1 of assault and battery — in all 4.

The largest of these slave owners (and one who has a large cotton pro-
ducing interest, is an estimable and intelligent gentleman, and minister
of the gospel), swears as follows: "I do not think any of my negroes
could have been sent to the Penitentiary for any offence which they have
committed since I owned them."

Another, who says that he has never had any offence committed by his
negroes which would have amounted to a felony if perpetrated by a white
man, remarks that he has "heard of little pilfering among themselves,
such as taking of fruits and watermelons, &c, never of clothing, or such
property. I have never heard of anything very serious."

Another, who reports 194 slaves, and is an educated gentleman residing
among his people, and closely observing them, coincides with what is
above stated, and of small and petty pilfering among themselves, says he
has " heard of some four or five cases in the past year."

All agree in the report, that petty thefts are not very numerous ; and
one, a citizen of Tatuall county, when speaking to this point, " hits the
nail on the head" roundly, by saying, "they have no need to steal, for
they have plenty without stealing."

All of which, it will be perceived, tends to confirm what I have other-
wise shown of the comparative small number of crimes among our slaves,
and the exceedingly small number of aggravated cases.

$ 17. To this I will append what Sir Charles Lyell says of the slaves
on the plantation of James Hamilton Couper, Esq., in this State.

"The most severe punishment required in the last forty years, for a
body of 500 negroes at Hopeton, was for the theft of one negro from an-
other. In that period, there has been no criminal act of the highest
grade, for which a delinquent could be committed to the Penitentiary in
Georgia, and there have been only 6 cases of assault and battery. The
murder of a husband by a black woman whom he had beaten violently,
is the greatest crime remembered in this part of Georgia, for a great
leugth of time."— LyelVs Travels in the U. S., Vol. I., p. 266.

$ 18. On the whole, I think that after due consideration, it will be
found that some reliance may be placed in the approximation to accuracy,
which is assumed for this statement of crimes among the blacks.

\ 19. When we examine the tables which are submitted in this report
of crimes among the blacks of the Middle Judicial District in our State,
we cannot fail to be impressed with the considerable preponderance of
crimes against the person — a preponderance greater even than in case of
free white offenders among us. But, if we look to the details, we will find
that these offences against the person consist chiefly of fights, or assaults
and batteries among themselves, and are not of a serious nature. These
among the slaves constitute nearly two-thirds, and among the free persons
of color, quite three-fourths of all the accusations.

g 20. The next most conspicuous offence is that of gaming, and for the
cause of its prominence we may look to the influence of the town upon
that class of population — all of the cases reported, save one, coming
from the city of Augusta. The crime of larceivy stands next most promi-
nent in the list, find is almost entirely confined to free persons of color;
with whom it constitutes about one-twelfth of all accusations; whilst with
the slaves it amounts to 170 only, in every 100; or considerably less

APPENDIX.

489

than one-fiftieth of the whole. A circumstance very significant as to the
morals between the two classes of blacks. It is a circumstance, too, per-
haps, not altogether insignificant as to the fact (inasmuch as these people
among us, as the general rule, are notoriously idle, improvident, and
destitute) that poverty and want are prolific parents of theft. Thus can
be readily realized the true philosophy contained in that homely observa-
tion of the plain planter, which I have mentioned, viz.: "they (bis
slaves) have no occasion to steal, because they have plenty without
stealing."

\ 21. It will be seen that two still more striking facts indicate the
difference between the moral and physical well-being of the slave and
free person of color, which are these :

1. The number of accusations against slaves are 1 to every 723 of the
slave population ; and among free persons of color, are as 1 to every 42.
The accusations against male slaves are a*s about 88 in every 100, and
against females as 12 in 100, whilst against male free persons of color
they are as about 58 in 100, and against females as 42 in every 100.

It will be remembered, perhaps, that in the whole District the number
of accusations against female slaves was, in three years, 20 only, out of
a population of 44,100 slaves — a less number than against white females
(greater in proportion to the whole number of slaves accused), though
the slave women are considerably more numerous than the white women,
whilst the number of accusations for the same time against free women
of color, was 19 out of a free colored population of 631. This circum-
stance bears evidence of a degradation, not to be found among any other
class in our country — a degradation suggestive of reflections which are
of great and increasing practical importance. I would call it evidence
of a degradation lower even than woman seems to have reached in Eng-
land and Scotland, were it not that among the accusations against these
free persons of color, there appeared none of those brutal and revolting
offences so often perpetrated by abandoned women in Great Britain, and
but few cases comparatively of theft — to which crime, destitution, and
starvation in that country, drive so many of these unfortunates.

On the subject of the difference in the number of crimes committed by
slaves and free persons of color, Beaumont and De Tocqueville say, "that
one strongly deceives himself if he believes that negroes are kept from
crime by giving them liberty ; experience on the contrary has discovered,
that in the South the number of crimes is very much greater among the
free negroes than among the slaves." — Systeme Penitentiare, Tom. I., p.
299. As it was then, so it is still, and must continue whilst the same
causes operate.

Again, the same authors say, that the proportion of women in the
prisons of the Union become more considerable, according as we descend
into those States where the negroes are more numerous, because negro
women commit infinitelv more crimes than the white women, &c. — Ibid.,
Tom I., 272.

Here the reference is to negro women who are free, and this appears
from a subsequent note on the next page, as well as from portions of the
text, other than that I have quoted.

\ 22. I have already remarked upon the exceedingly small number of
capital cases among our blacks ; and I now call attention to the few cases
which would have been considered felonies if committed by free whites
(few in comparison to the small aggregate total, appearing in this report),

490

APPENDIX.

and to the almost entire absence of those malignant, bloody, atrocious,
or revengeful crimes which are to be found, and must, in the nature
of things ever be found on the criminal calendar of every people, where
the lower orders are beastly in habits, degraded in morals, suffering from
want, hunger, cold, and squalor; or writhing under the iron heel of
oppression. To the plain corollary, or consequence, I may refer, in
conclusion.

\ 23. As I have not before mentioned the fact, and it occurs to me just
here, I desire to remark, that a very large proportion, indeed a very large
majority of the assaults and batteries reported against the blacks, and as
a consequence, a very large majority of all the crimes committed by them,
were occasioned by the intoxication of one, or both of the parties — espe-
cially is this true, as to the free persons of color. I had no means of
verifying this with entire accuracy, but judging from the cases on the
police records, as the facts remain in the memory of the officers, this
inference is plainly authorized.

\ 24. I have time, in conclusion, to deduce only a few hasty general
conclusions from the above statement of crime among the blacks, and
especially among slaves.

From all that is thus shown, it is apparent, that our negroes, (as per-
haps Sir Charles Lyell suggests,) are kind, warm-hearted, and impulsive,
and not a morose and malignant people. But it is also obvious, that other
causes must rest at the foundation of these results ; for we find that
among other people of cheerful temperaments, and kind affections, but
differently situated, crimes, and atrocious crimes too, are found in a
fearful ratio to the population.

These causes, without doubt, we are authorized to infer are:

1. A wholesome moral restraint, in which respect for the relation of
man and wife and its incidents, is generally encouraged, sometimes en-
forced by the owners of slaves in our country. To maintain which, these
owners are in a high degree prompted by their interests, by the desire to
obtain the services of healthy, and intelligent, and able-bodied servants,
and to increase the stock of their property by the natural multiplication
of their slaves.

2. A general diffusion of practical and plain Christian and moral
elementary principles among them.

3. An abundant supply of food and clothing, as the general rule, which
also the interest of the owner, if not his sense of duty, requires to be
provided.

4. Considerate legislation, which has reference to a system of re-
straints (judicious and expedient, where such an institution is main-
tained), on the one hand, and on the other, to justice and humanity.

These are some of the reasons why we find, that this institution of
slavery (whose uses were established by an inscrutable Providence, and
designed to exist, despite the puny efforts and revilingsof weak and igno-
rant men, until His all-wise purposes shall be accomplished) when we
would estimate its value with relation to that sum of human suffering
and sin which go to make up crime, though unsightly and disagreeable,
it may be, in some of its features, " wears yet a precious jewel in its
head" — the almost priceless gem of comparative immunity from the
curse of crime, and all that it entails upon a people.

APFENDIX.

491

g 25. Extract from Cobb's Historical Sketch of Slavery.

" The criminal statistics of the slavehokling and non-slaveholding
States show, that the proportion of crime committed by negroes in the
former, does not reach the ratio of this population as compared with the
whites, while in the latter, the ratio is much greater. The same is true
of the statistics of mortality and disease. The apparent disproportion
in the former case is greater than the truth, as many petty crimes by
slaves do not reach the courts ; and in the latter, it may be truly said
that the Southern climate is more favorable to the health and longevity
of the negro. But, making due allowances in both cases for these causes,
it is still true that the negroes are less addicted to crime, and are more
healthy and long-lived, in a state of slavery than freedom."

| 1. By reference to §15 of Appendix, C, it will be seen, that the
author of that report there states, that, in pursuit of information relating
to other subjects connected with slavery, and for the purpose of procuring
statistics having reference to crimes in his district, he had addressed cir-
cular letters to many planters and slave-owners in that district, asking
for information in relation to the treatment of their slaves, and the state
of crime among them ; and that he had received answers from these gen-
tlemen, furnishing information on these subjects in reply to his questions.
Judge Starnes's report contains no more of these answers than was of
immediate service to him in preparing his criminal statistics. It occurred
to me that there might be some information in these answers relating to
the subject of slavery, and its incidents, which would be of service,
if presented to the public in connection with the matters contained
in the foregoing pages. I have accordingly obtained the originals of
these letters, and propose to submit copies of a few of them, for the pur-
pose of enabling the reader who has no experience in such matters, to
ascertain something more of the moral character of our slaves in Geor-
gia, of their comfort, and their treatment by owners. I have selected a
few of these letters as specimens of the whole, because it would oc-
cupy too much room to publish all. But these have been taken at ran-
dom; and I pledge my faith that, in all important particulars, they coin-
cide, or very nearly so, with those which are not published.

§ 2. The following is a copy of Judge Starnes's letter, and of the ques-
tions to which the other letters are replies :

"1. How many Slaves do you own or superintend? How many Males,
who are grown ? How many Women ? How many children under ten
years old?

2. How much food do you give to each per day, or per week of seven
days? How many pounds of meat, and what sort of meat, the year
round, do you give them? Can you approximate the quantity in pounds
of meal, or vegetables, such as potatoes, peas, turnips, etc., which you
allow them per day ?

492

APPENDIX.

3. What sort of, and how many, suits of clothing do you give them a
year? In the term clothing, I include hats, shoes, and blankets.

4. What house-room do you allow them? What is the size of their
rooms ? How many, on an average, occupy a room ? Has each house
or cabin a fire-place ?

5. How much and what sort of fuel is allowed them in winter?

6. What provision do you make for the attendance of a physician upon
the sick? What time is allowed your lying-in women after child-birth?

7. Are the infant negroes all suckled by their mothers, and have their
mothers a sufficient supply of breast-milk for them ?

8. Do you allow milk to the young children generally ? How are the
infants taken care of when their mothers are absent?

9. Have you had a still-born child among your negroes in the last ten
years? if so, how many? How many negro children have you, in that
time, lost in the first, how many in the second, how many in the third years
of their lives ?

10. At what ages are the young negroes put out to work ? and to what
sort of labor are they first put ?

11. How many aged and infirm negroes have you? What food and
clothing do you allow them ? and what work require of them ? How are
those who need attendance cared for and looked after ? How old is the
oldest of your negroes ?

12. During what hours do your slaves labor, and what hours have they
for rest ?

13. How many lunatics have you on your place or places? What food
and clothing do you allow them, and how otherwise treat them ?

14. Have any of your negroes committed any such crime as murder,
manslaughter, mayhem, rape, or any other crime against the person, in
the last ten years ? or have they been charged with any such offence ? if
so, how many ?

15. Have any of them committed burglary, robbery, larceny, or theft,
or any such crime against property, in ten years ? if so, how many ?
Have any of them, in that time, committed any acts which would have
sent him or her to the penitentiary if he or she had been a free white
citizen ?

16. If any of your slaves have been so charged, have any of the
females been so accused ?

1 7. Are petty thefts among themselves frequent with your negroes ?

18. Have you had a case of suicide among your slaves in ten years?
Did you ever know of a case of suicide by a slave ? if so, how many in
your life, and how long have you lived in a slaveholding community?

19. What religious opportunities do your slaves enjoy? Are any of
them members of Christian churches ?

20. Have you ever separated families by sale ? Do you make a prac-
tice of doing so by purchase ? What is the general custom of the county
in this respect?

Very respectfully,
To . Yr. obdt, servt., etc."

The following letter is from a citizen of Washington County:

Davisboro, May 20th, 1863.

\ 3. Dear Judge: — I furnish below such answers as I can make to
your interrogatories.

g 4. To the 1st questiou I answer, I own and superintend 198 servants;

APPENDIX.

493

among them are thirty-three grown women, twenty-six girls from ten to
eighteen years old, thirty-four girl children under ten years of age,
thirty-six grown men, twenty-seven boys from ten to eighteen years of
age, thirty boy children under ten, five oid women who are over-aged and
infirm, five old men in the same condition, making ten thus situated, one
who is maimed and lame, and one who is an idiot — both of the last are
males.

\ 5. To the 2d question I answer, I give to all servants who are over
ten years of age 12£ pounds of bacon per month of twenty-six days, and
a peck of meal per week of seven days, each. To all children under ten
years I give 6^ pounds of meat per month, and half a peck of meal per
week. The meat which I allow to the servants who labor, or are infirm,
amounts to about half a pound per day, of shoulders or middlings, with
about a pound and a half of meal, a peck (the allowance for a week of
seven days) weighing from eleven to fourteen pounds, and thus you have
the pounds per day. I generally kill from ten to twelve beeves in the
year , this I seldom or never weigh out to them, as it is given to them
extra of their regular allowance, and is cut up and divided among them
as equally as possible. As for vegetables, such as peas, potatoes, and
turnips, I have the two latter planted in patches, and allow them to go
and get what they desire: this is especially so of turnips. I have, some
few times in my life, given them allowance in sweet potatoes, though
generally I raise an abundance of them ; but when gathered and put up
in hills, they are given out in families, and according to the size of the
families ; sometimes they are allowed to go to the hills and get them as
they wish As for peas, I make it no article of allowance — I plant them
in all of the corn-fields, and the servants go and gather them as they
wish. All of the servants, on each of the three plantations, are per-
mitted to raise chickens, and have gardens, in which they raise such
vegetables as they choose to plant.

It has been a custom with me for several years past, and which I still
keep up, to give the servants on each of the plantations a barbacue, or
dinner, so soon as they finish laying by the corn crop — this generally
happens on or about the 4th of July. I most always attend them, or, in
my absence, the overseers, to see that they have an abundance of provi-
sions, such as beef, pork, mutton, and bacon, corn and wheat, bread and
vegetables.

| 6. To the 3d, I answer, I give all servants two suits during the year,
and frequently, to some, three. The suit for summer consists of a shirt
and pantaloons, or, to women or girls, frocks, made of cotton osna-
bergs, principally manufactured at home. In winter, I give them a shirt,
pantaloons, and sack-coat, the filling of wool, the warp of factory
thread, No. 5 or 6, and cloth wove at home. Mostly all the servants
who work out have hats yearly, and all of them blankets every two years.
They also have shoes every winter, and often some are allowed two pairs
per winter.

\ 7 To the 4th, I answer, most of my servants' houses are built 18 by
20 feet, and each family occupies a separate house — sometimes it consists
of a man and his wife, and six or eight children ; and I suppose, if the
average was made, it would not exceed more than five to the house. Some
of the houses have sheds attached to the main building. All of the
houses have at least one fire-place. The chimneys are built mostly of

494

ArPENDIX.

rock in the body, and brick funnel. Some few are built of timber for

body of chimney, and mud and sticks for the funnel.

§ 8. To the 5th, I answer, I own a large body of timbered land ; and,
with exception of one of the plantations, the wood is near the servants'
houses. The wood or fuel mostly used by servants for making their fires
is pine, red oak, and hickory. During the winter months, wood is hauled
to their houses from the new grounds which are being cleared up. I have
never debarred my servants from getting any kind of wood, and in any
quantity they pleased,

\ 9. To the 6th, I answer, whenever any of the servants are sick, it is
reported either to the overseer or myself by one of their family, and we
go to see them. If a simple case, we administer and prescribe, some-
times bleeding, when necessary; but if the case requires the aid of a
physician, he is sent for immediately, and one of the female relatives of
the sick sent in to attend their wants ; and the overseer or myself see that
the medicines are given in accordance with the prescriptions of the phy-
sician. Where I have thought the case dangerous, and requiring my
personal attention, I have sat up and attended the sick during the night.
In all instances where the women are discovered to be in a child-bearing
situation, they are taken into their houses and put to spinning, at least
eight weeks before confinement, and remain in six weeks after the birth
of a child.

$ 10. To the 7th, I answer, in all cases the women are allowed time
for nursing their children. My rule has always been that the mother of
an infant under four months is allowed to come in from work once be-
tween breakfast and dinner, and once between dinner and night. I never
but twice, in my recollection, had women that did not give a sufficient
supply of milk for their children ; and in both of these instances I had
the children frequently fed with cow's milk in suckling-bottles.

\ 11. To the 8th, I answer, my servant children under ten years of age
are allowed, every morning during the summer months, to have milk, such
as clabber, butter-milk, or sweet milk, from the dairy. I keep from two
to three old servant women at each plantation, who take care of all chil-
dren under ten years while their mothers are absent in the fields at
work.

$12. To the 9th, I answer, within the last ten years, on one of the
plantations of which I have the management, so far as I now recollect,
there have been four still-born children, from two women, each having
two. Previous to that time, I do not remember any such occurrences.

\ 13. To the 10th, I answer, when my little negroes arrive at the age
of ten or eleven years, they are put to driving up the cows and calves,
carrying water to the grown hands in the fields; and some of the girl
children, at those ages, are learned to spin, and others are taken by the
old men and women into the vegetable and potato patches, and learned to
hoe. The first year after that time, they are gradually taken into the
fields of corn aud cotton with the other hands, two in one row, and
learned to work, the older ones learning them — this is often by some
relative of theirs.

| 14. To the 11th, I answer, I have ten aged and infirm servants — five
males and five females. They arc fed and clothed in the same manner
with other servants, that labor in the fields; receiving whatever clothing
and food the others get, and at the same time. The old women take care
of the children, the old men work in the gardens and patches about the

APPENDIX.

495

house and for their use — this they do as they choose. The oldest servant
on the different plantations is about eighty-four years, and there are
among the above two of about the same age, There are none of them
yet but that can travel about, and take care of themselves pretty well.

\ 15. To the 12th, I answer, my servants should get tc their work
about sunrise, and work to my usual breakfast hour; which, in summer
time, is between seven and eight o'clock. They then stop about one
hour to eat, and at about half-past eleven to twelve they stop for dinner,
and rest about two hours and a half ; then work till sunset, or a little
afterwards.

§ 16. To the 13th, I answer, I have but one idiot, and that a male,
about twenty years of age. He receives his clothes and food as the other
negroes, and often gets two suits to another's one. His mother takes
care of him ; she is employed in spinning. He is kept with the old
women and children, and does no labor hut what he chooses. He fre-
quently draws water and picks up wood for the other servants. All the
servants appear to like him, and treat him with the greatest kindness.

§ 17. To the 14th, I answer, I have never had any negro under my
charge to commit murder, manslaughter, mayhem, or rape, so far as I
have any knowledge of it ; nor have any of them been charged or ac-
cused of such crimes.

\ 18. To the 15th, I answer, that none of the negroes which I own or
superintend have been charged or accused of burglary. They have fre-
quently been accused of stealing from each other little things, and they
have at times been detected and corrected. One of the negroes was
charged with robbing a trunk of some large sum, amounting to five or
six hundred dollars, and she was tried, convicted, and punished accord-
ing to law ; but she was not entirely under my management at the time.

$ 19. To the 16th, I answer, the negro who was tried and convicted of
robbing the trunk before mentioned was a female, and was raised in a
city, about her mistress' house, and was treated with the greatest kind-
ness, and greatly indulged.

§ 20. To the 17th I answer, I cannot say that so far as my knowledge
extends, that petty thefts are very frequent among my own negroes ; but
for the last two or three years I have heard more of them and had to
correct oftener for that cause than previously. Perhaps I have had du-
ring the last year some four or five cases among all the servants.

$ 21. To the 18th I answer, within the last ten years I have not had a
case of suicide among the negroes, nor did such a thing ever occur pre-
vious to that time among any of the negroes which I own or control. I
never knew of any cases of the sort, though I have heard possibly of three.
I was born in a slaveholding State, and have resided all my life in a slave-
holding community.

§ 22. To the 19th I answer, I have always permitted the negroes that
I own or superintend the privilege of attending church every Sabbath, if
they desired to do so. We have a church on one of the plantations, where
there is preaching twice in the month. Most of the negroes attend. The
larger portion of the older negroes are members of some Christian church,
and they are allowed to hold prayer-meetings among themselves on the
premises.

\ 23. To the 20th I answer, I never did sell a man from his wife, nor
a woman from her husband; nor did I ever purchase a servant from their
families. The most of those that I have bought have been for the purpose

496

APPENDIX.

of putting them with their families ; nor do I believe it to be the general
custom of the country to separate families by sales or purchase.

I will add, that I always allow my negroes to make crops for them-
selves, such as corn, cotton, &c. ; and that of the number I control, their
crops amount yearly to the sum of eight hundred and one thousand dol-
lars. I never allow them to go off trading of nights and Sundays, but
when they receive the money for their crops, they have the mules and
wagons to take them to the village or store. The overseer accompanies
them. They buy what they want, and bring it home.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

John J. Long.

Georgia, Washington County:
Before me came John J. Long, who certifies under oath that the fore-
going statement is just and true, to the best of his knowledge and
belief in the premises. Sworn and subscribed before me this May
21, 1853.

John J. Long.

S. B. Crafton, N. P.

\ 24. The following letter is from a gentleman of Jefferson County,
who was formerly in the British Army, served with distinction as an offi-
cer under Wellington in the Peninsula, and in the campaign which ter-
minated at Waterloo, and has received from the Sovereign of Great Britain
the usual decorative rewards in such cases, in the shape of medals,
clasps, &c. :

§ 25. Dear Sir : — I have received from you a paper containing twenty
queries with regard to the treatment and condition of slaves. I would
remark that I was born in a slaveholding community, which I left in
early childhood for Europe, where I was educated and lived some years.
I have, however, lived in Georgia for the last thirty years, the last twenty-
three of which 1 have been the owner and superintendent of slaves.

I now proceed to answer the questions seriatim as far as my knowledge
and experience enable me to do.

\ 26. 1st answer. Sixty-five, of which there are —

Males, grown {i. e., about 16) 19

Women " " 21

Children under ten 17

" between 10 and 16 8

§ 27. 2d. Food. — They receive three pounds of bacon per week. When
fresh meat is given, as occasionally in winter and spring, they receive
more. One peck of corn-meal per week, besides which, potatoes are given
occasionally and as long as they last. A piece of cow-penned land is sown
in the fall in turnips, which they are permitted to use ad libitum. They
all have gardens, in which they raise cabbage, &c. I have offered to
increase the allowance of meat, if they wished it, but have always been
informed by them that they had enough.

I 28. 3d. Clothing. — To each of the men and boys, a winter suit of
factory plains (without wool), consisting of a sack and pair of pantaloons ;
a ihirt, a hat, and pair of shoes. In the summer, the same, of lighter
factory cloth, except the hat and shoes.

To the women, in winter, of factory plains, a frock and petticoat ; a

APPENDIX.

497

shift, pair of shoes, and head handkerchief. In the summer, the same
of summer cloth, except the petticoat. All the above-mentioned clothing
is given to tlieru made up. For the young children, their cloth is given
to their mothers. Each negro of every age receives , a blanket every
second year.

\ 29. 4th. Each family has a house 16 by 20 feet, with a fire-place.
This they divide into two rooms. Some of the families have an additional
house or room adjoining, in which the larger children sleep.

$ 30. 5th. The woods are convenient to the quarters, where they
procure whatever fuel they want to use.

\ 31. 6th. Medical attendance. — The same physician that attends my
own family. Lying-in women are allowed one month in all cases. If
delicate, they are kept in from regular work longer. Sewing and other
light work is given to them.

\ 32. 7th. All infants are suckled by their mothers, who in almost ali
cases have a sufficient supply of breast-milk.

\ 33. 8th. The young children are allowed milk generally. There are
three old women whose sole business is to take care of the children
during their mothers' absence. Also, to attend the sick, receiving their
instructions from myself or the overseer.

\ 34. 9th. Still-born children in the last ten years. — Ans., one. With
respect to the proportion of deaths in the first, second, and third years, I
am not able to answer, but believe it to be less than in any white popu-
lation which I have known. In connection with this subject, I may re-
mark that eleven years after the death of my father, the slaves that I
inherited from him had more than doubled.

\ 35. 10th. At about twelve years old, they begin to make themselves
useful in the field as water-carriers to the laboring hands ; after which,
with a light hoe, they are put to work with their parents, aud are not
tasked.

\ 36. 11th. Aged and infirm. — Six. They have the same food, clothing,
&c, that they always have had. As to work, three women attend, as I
have said, on the sick and children. Of two old men, one is a carpenter,
and does light work of that kind ; the other shells corn to send to mill,
and attends about the stables. One woman, aged 85, the oldest person
on the plantation, does nothing.

§ 37. 12th. All field-hands go out to work at good day-light. The plough-
hands come in at 12 o'clock, and stay in two hours. They then return
to plough until near dusk. The hoe-hands work by task, which some
fiui.<h between three and four o'clock.

| 38. 13th. One idiot, a woman of about 28. Food, clothing, &c, the
same as the rest. She is able to take care of herself. Can understand
everything she is told, and is perfectly harmless.

§ 39. 14th. I have not known among my negroes of any instances of
the crimes stated in this question.

£ -10. 15th. No such cases have occurred.

g 41. 16th. None.

£ 42. 17th. Petty thefts among themselves. — I do not often hear com-
plaints of such things.

\ 43. 18th. Suicide. — I have never had such a case, nor have I ever
heard of one. I have stated that I have lived in a slaveholding commu-
nity the last thirty years, twenty-seven years as owner and manager of
slaves.

42* 2g

498

APPENDIX.

§ 44. 19th. They have free access to all opportunities of religious wor-
ship in the neighborhood, with occasional meetings for that purpose on
the plantation. Many of them are members of the Baptist, and some of
the Methodist Church.

\ 45. 20th. Separation of families by sale. — I never have either by sale
or purchase. The practice in the county, I believe, is never to separate
husband and wife, or young children (viz., under 12 years of age) from
their parents.

I am not aware that it is in my power to furnish you with any further
information on the subject of your inquiries.

Dear sir, yours respectfully,

J. P. Gairdner.
The next letter is from a citizen of Scriven County :

g 4G. Dear Judge. — 1st. I own, and have under my control, 450 or
more slaves — 100 grown males, 100 females, and 150 children ten years
of age and under.

\ 47. 2d. I give one peck of corn meal, or three pecks of sweet pota-
toes, per week. I allow on the rice fields and in Whitfield County, Ga.,
half a pound of bacon per day. I allow molasses occasionally, gratis, on
these places. In Scriven County, on my cotton plantation, I allow two
pounds of bacon (if clear of bone) per week; if bone in it the manager
uses his judgment. I give in the summer season, meat one week and
molasses the next, allowing two quarts of molasses per week. Before
potatoes are housed, they dig and use as much as they choose. Peas and
vegetables are given them without allowance, in their season. My negroes
all have gardens, and raise cabbage, okra tomatoes, and all the common
vegetables generally raised by the farmers.

\ 48. 3d. I give one suit of woollen clothes, one suit of osnaburgs,
two cotton shirts, two flannel shirts or their equivalents, one pair of
shoes, one straw hat for summer, and one wool hat, cap, or glazed hat
for winter; one blanket every third winter in the low country, every
second in the up country. Every woman gets a blanket for every child
born. Every child large enough to nurse gets his or her blanket. A
mother with two children or more under this size, is entitled to an extra
blanket.

g 49. 4th. I have been in the practice of building my negro houses
twenty feet square. I am now building them twenty-four by twenty
feet. Each house has a good fire-place. No room less than ten feet. On
an average not more than two in a room.

§ 50. 5th. They are allowed as much oak, hickory, black-jack, pine,
&c, as they wish to use.

\ 51. tith. I employ a physician by the year for all my plantations,
giving him so much per visit, and he is to be the judge when and how
often he ought to see the sick. He is to visit each place twice a week,
whether sent for or not. I allow my women in child-birth four weeks'
attendance, and two weeks without steady work after they come out.

# 52. 7th. My women always suckle their own children, and I think
each one could suckle two children as easily as one. I have twelve
children on my cotton farm, born at six births.

\ 68. 8th. Milk is always allowed my children. I have one of the most
trusty women on each place to look after the small children and cook for
them. They are never allowanced. Each infant has a nurse large enough
to carry it miles if necessary.

APPENDIX.

g 54. 9th. I never had a still-born child among my negroes. I have
on my cotton plantation one hundred and four children under thirteen
years of age. Within the last thirteen years I have lost twenty-two
children.

\ 55. 10th. The time at which my young negroes are put out to work
depends more upon their size than age. None, however, are put out
under nine years old. They are first put out with old negroes to aid
them.

\ 56. 11th. I have four or five old and infirm negroes that are attended
to like my children. I make my old negroes stay with the children.
They are allowanced and treated in the. same way that my field hands
are. The doctor attends them when sick the same as the others. I had
a man who died last February, at least one hundred years old. I have
more than half a dozen over eighty years old.

\ 57. 12th. My hands labor not more than eight hours per day the
year round, sometimes a little more, sometimes less, and always in day-
light.

g 58. 13th. I have no idiots or lunatics on my place, and never had one.

\ 59. 14th. I have had no negro accused of murder, manslaughter or
any of the crimes you enumerate.

\ 60. 15th. I never had a negro prosecuted for any offence. My
negroes sometimes commit small thefts, such as stealing hogs, chickens,
&c, and in almost every instance this is done from their master. I do
not think any of my negroes could have been sent to the Penitentiary for
any offence which they have committed since I owned them.

§ 61. 17th. I have never known such a thing with my negroes as petty
thefts among themselves.

\ 62. 18th. When I was a boy I heard of a negro woman hanging her-
self. This is the only case I ever knew. I was born in Georgia, and
never lived out of the State. I am now fifty-seven years of age.
* \ 63. 19th. A missionary attends all my places. The negroes can
attend church every Sabbath if they choose to do so. The minister
preaches on my place twice every month. I think about one hundred of
my negroes are members of the Methodist and Baptist churches. The
missionary has a class of small negroes on each plantation, which he
catechises regularly once a week.

\ 64. 20th. I never have, either by sale or purchase, separated fami-
lies ; and it is not frequent in my knowledge that this is done. I sold
one of my women a few days since, at her request, to go with her husband.
I sold her, as I think, for considerably less than her worth, rather than
have her and her husband separated.

State of Georgia, Whitfield County:

Before me, William Whitten, a Justice of the Peace, personally came
P. L. Wade, who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that the
foregoing questions as stated are true as far as the knowldge of this
deponent extends. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 9th
day of July, 1853.

William Whitten, J. P.

Respectfully your friend, &c.

P. L. Wade.

500

APPENDIX.

The following is from a successful planter in Richland County.

\ 65. Dear Sir. — We own 150 slaves, old and young; more males than
females, in the proportion of 10 to 9. About 20.

\ 66. The working hands have four pounds best bacon per week, one
peck meal, milk every other night in summer. I plant largely of all
kinds of vegetables, which they can get by asking. I have sweet potatoes
in abundance during six months of the year, when each hand has a choice
of his or her full allowance of meal, or half a peck of meal and one peck
of potatoes per week. I distribute molasses occasionally.

§ 67. Old and young get regularly one woollen suit in the fall. In
summer the men and boys get two homespun pants and two shirts. The
women at the same time have two frocks and two petticoats. All have
two pairs of shoes a year. Two hats — woollen and straw. The women
get two headkerchiefs. Blankets are distributed when needed.

\ 68. The children are suckled by their own mothers generally: when
not capable I have another to take charge of the infant. The infants are
suckled four times a day, not counting the time when the mother returns
from her work, at dark, and before going out in the morning.

\ 69. I have on my plantation a nursery for the negro children under
ten years, under the charge of a good nurse, who takes care of the infants
whilst their mothers are at work. I have found from experience that it
is best for the children to remain with this nurse from the time they are
weaned till they can be of service to their parents. This plan relieves
the mother of much trouble and anxiety. The nurse gets every morning
a certain quantity of meat, meal, potatoes, milk, sugar, or molasses.

\ 70. I think we have lost one child in every four during sickness —
caused generally by carelessness of the mothers. Since the adoption of
my plan of a nursery, few die after being weaned, compared to what
died formerly, probably not more than one a year on the average — one
or two.

g 71. I have four aged and infirm negroes. They receive the sam&
quantity of necessaries they had in their better days. Nothing is par-
ticularly required of them. The little they do is merely for exercise.

§ 72. The children under teu years mind the smaller ones, and assist
the stock-minder about the lots. After this age they find light work in
and around the brick-yard.

\ 73. We work from daybreak to sunset, stopping two and a half hours
during that time for meals when at gang-work ; but when tasked the dis-
posal of their meals is left to them.

\ 74. Each family is provided with house room sufficient to accommo-
date comfortably all its members. This is generally one large room with
a fire-place, which they partition to suit themselves. No particular
quantity of fire-wood is given them; suffice it to say they have an abund-
ance the whole year with little trouble. The houses arc visited regularly
every Sunday morning by myself or overseer, to see that they are well
swept; and if a clear day, have their blankets and woollen clothes put in
the sun.

# 75. I have on my place a hospital for the sick under the care of a
none. I engage a physician by the year. The sick are furnished with
fresh beef, tea, coffee, sugar and molosses, according to their wants.

£ 76. 1 have had the good fortune never to have had an idiot or a lunatic
among the negroes.

APPENDIX.

501

\ 77. I recollect but one case of mayhem on my place. Murder and
other high crimes are unheard of around me. Thefts and petit larceny
among themselves are frequent.

I 78. I have never had a case of suicide among my negroes ; but two
or three cases of the kind have come to my knowledge as happening on
other places. I will take occasion here to remark that I have never
known a negro woman charged with any of the above crimes.

g 79. Every Sunday I permit a certain number of my slaves to go to
m town" to attend church. My intention is to build this year a church
on my place, when a minister will be engaged to preach for them every
Sunday.

\ 80. I allow four weeks to my women lying-in after childbirth.

| 81. My oldest negro is upwards of ninety years of age.

\ 82. I have never separated families by sale or purchase. I have had
occasion to buy many negroes, and my practice has invariably been to
avoid separating them. Charles Delaigle.

The following is from a citizen of Tatnall County :

■ Reidsville, April 15th, 1853.

\ 83. Dear Sir: — I have sixteen negro slaves — five males that are
field-hands, and three women — two of them child-bearing, the other aged ;
and there are eight children, under ten years old. We give them as much
food as they want and can eat, treating them as the white family in this
respect — their food being prepared for them by the same cook which
prepares the meals for the family, and they have three meals a day. The
meat consists of bacon, beef, and mutton ; and the yard or kitchen ne-
groes have sometimes poultry. For bread, chiefly Indian corn, some-
times wheat bread. Sweet potatoes all the year ; sometimes Irish pota-
toes in summer. Sometimes rice, peas (the cow and crowder pea), beans,
cabbages, turnips, etc. I cannot give the quantity in pounds, for we
don't allowance — all having what they want.

\ 8-1. We give them not less than three suits a year — a spring, a sum-
mer, and a winter suit. Sometimes, if they wear them out, as some of
the boys do, we give them more. The clothing consists of cotton in
spring and summer, and a mixture of woollen and cotton in winter — all
manufactured by ourselves. The men and boys have a hat a year, one
pair of shoes to all, except to the little negroes, who are not exposed to
the weather, and one blanket a year to each.

\ 85. The infants are suckled by their mothers, who all have sufficient
milk for them. They also have milk as often as they wish. The chil-
dren have milk during the summer, as much as they wish. Our little
negroes are so healthy, and have such good appetites, that, by the time
they are weaned, they do well on other food, such as the older ones have.
I have never had a still-born child on my place in my fife. I have never
lost a child during the first, second, or third year.

\ 86. I have not an infirm negro on the place. The oldest is about
fifty-five, but healthy and vigorous. When they are not under the care
of the mother, they are taken to the yard, and cared for by the cook.
My slaves get up about daybreak, feed and water the horses, shell corn,
etc., until breakfast, which they have by an hour by sun. They then go
out to work until twelve o'clock, noon. Then they come in to dinner,
and have two hours. They then go out to work until about sundown,

APPENDIX.

wl ?n they come home and get supper. Each family has its own house,
about eighteen by fourteen feet. Not more than eight in one room, con-
sisting of a mother and children, the oldest being about eight years of
age. When her husband visits her (who belongs to another owner), nine

occupy the house.

g 87. As much fuel as they wish is at the doors of the negroes,
almost, and they use it as they wish.

\ 88. I have never needed a physician for my negroes — indeed, I never
needed a physician for my whites until last fall. I would send for a phy-
sician for my slaves under the same circumstances as for my white
family.

g 89. I have no idiot or lunatic on my place.

\ 90. I have never had any such charge made against my negroes, and
they have never committed any such offence.

g 91. They have not, in that time, committed any theft of which I
have heard. 1 do not hear of petty thefts among themselves.

\ 92. I have never had a case of suicide on my place, and never heard
of one. I am upwards of thirty-six years old, and have always lived in
a slaveholding community.

g 93. There is meeting at the Baptist church, about five miles from
me, once a month. Two of my negroes are members of that church, and
my slaves attend, more or less of them, on the Sabbath. They also at-
tend worship at the Methodist meeting-house, near us, occasionally.

\ 94. I never have separated families by sale, and I never have by
purchase separated a family ; and the general custom of the country is
to avoid this, I think.

I know of no lunatic slaves in this county, or in Montgomery County.

Very respectfully, etc.,

James Tillman.

State of Georgia, Tattnall County :

Personally appeared before me, James Tillman; who, being sworn,
saith that the answers above given are just and true, to the best of
his knowledge, information, and belief.

James Tillman.

Sworn to before me, this, the 15th day of April, 1853.

Samuel D. Surrenct, J. P.

The letter which follows is from a citizen of Emanuel County.

" Swainsbpro, April 17th, 1853.

§ 95. Dear Sir: — I own forty slaves nnd superintend one. Ten are
men, ten women, nnd there are just ten children under ten years of age.

§ 9G. My slaves have what they ask for, generally — bacon and pork,
beef, and Munetiines, though not often, mutton, poultry, (though seldom.)
corn-bread, || tag, hominy, and sometimes rice. They have three meals
ii day, ami generally take what they think will be sufficient. I do not
allowance. Their meals are provided for them by cooks. They have
vegetables ami fruit in summer, collards, turnips, turnip-greens in win-
ter, i ad plenty of milk in summer. I share, also, the molasses or syrup
1 make with them.

APPENDIX.

503

\ 97. I keep my negroes always well and comfortably clothed, accord-
ing to the season. The general allowance of clothing is two summer
suits, of cotton, and one winter suit, of cotton and wool ; though we give
extra clothing to them who may stand in need. They have hats and
shoes provided them. There are nine feather beds among tht-m, thirteen
mattrasses, a sufficient number of domestic blankets, bed-quilts, etc.

g 98. The infants are suckled whenever the mother sees cause to
suckle them, having free permission to leave their work for this purpose.
The lying-in women are allowed a month, or more, according to their
health after delivery.

\ 99. In summer, milk is given to the young children ; and in winter,
if they are sickly, and need it. The children generally, when weaned,
are sufficiently vigorous and healthy to eat other food and keep healthy.
One woman, who was afflicted with asthma, has had one or two miscar-
riages, and this is all of such cases as have* occurred in ten years. I have
lost no children in the first, second, or third year.

\ 100. I have one aged and infirm negro of my own, and one of a de-
ceased brother-in-law's, who made me his executor, and by his will regu-
lated that this slave should be taken care of by me, and left a legacy to
him sufficient for that purpose. The latter is about seventy, and mine
is about sixty years old. I allow them the same food and clothing as the
other negroes. I require no work. Mine does what he pleases ; the
other does nothing for me. They are not infirm enough to require super-
intendence.

\ 101. The infants are brought into the yard when their mothers leave
them, and are taken care of by the cooks or larger children. "We do
not put them to work until they are seven or eight years old, and then
only to light work, such as picking cotton, in summer. When there is
none of that to do, they do nothing. After ten, the boys are put to
the plough, and the girls are kept at light work until they are fully ma-
tured. Indeed, our women may be said to do light work at all times, and
no more is required of them.

\ 102. Our slaves rise about daylight, and get their breakfast before
going out — some of them first feeding the stock. At twelve o'clock they
come into dinner, and stay until about one. In hot weather we allow
them a longer time. They work until about dark. They then get sup-
per, and have nothing more to do.

| 103. They have cabins to each family, about eighteen by twenty feet
in size, with a fire-place to each. They average about five or six to a
house.

\ 104. They have as much wood as they can consume.

\ 105. I send for a physician whenever I think one of them needs it.

| 106. I have no idiots or lunatics.

| 107. There has been no such charge brought against any of my
slaves in ten years.

\ 108. I have not heard frequent complaints of thefts among them-
selves. I have myself missed some choice fruit in summer, and suspected
them of taking it. Nothing worse has come to my knowledge.

§ 109. I have never had a case of suicide among my negroes, and have
never known of one anywhere. I have heard of one or two in my life.
Being so contented, from having their wants supplied, I do not see any
temptation for them to make away with themselves. I am fifty-nine
years old, and have always lived in a slave community.

504

APPENDIX.

$ 110. There is a Methodist church within a mile of us, where there
is preaching once a month, on Sabbath, and a Baptist church within two
and a half miles, where there is Sabbath preaching once a month. Our
slaves have the privilege of attending either or both of these places. Six
or seven of them are members of the church.

| 111. The custom of the country is not to separate slaves by sale, as
a general rule. If two persons own a husband and wife, and one of them
moves away, the general custom is for one or the other to buy.

Respectfully, etc.,

James Hicks.

Personally appeared, James Hicks; who, being sworn, saith that the
above facts, as set forth in his letter, are correct, to the best of his
knowledge and belief.

James Hicks.

Sworn to in open court, April 17th, 1853.

Neal M'Leod, Clk.

To satisfy you that our slaves are not desperately discontented with
their condition, I will relate the following :

[ had a sister who died a little more than nine years ago, and left to
me, by will, two slaves — a man, about thirty-one years old, and a woman,
about twenty-four years of age. During her lifetime, she expressed a
wish to me that these slaves should be set free, and desired me to have
them freed, provided it could be done. I told her, befoi-e her death, to
inform them that, if they would leave the State of Georgia, and go to
some State where they could legally be emancipated, they should be
free ; but if they chose to remain in Georgia, they must content them-
selves to remain slaves. This information was communicated to the
woman, and she chose to remain. I do not know that the man had the
same offer made to him, but believe he had. He is now in my service,
and I could fearlessly challenge the world to produce from among white
servants a more honest man, or one more devoted to the interests of his
master.

Yours respectfully, etc.,

James Hicks.

Extract from the Constitution of the State of Georgia.

Article IV., $ 12. "Any person who shall maliciously dismember, or
deprive a slave of life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted
in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and
OH the like proof, except in case of insurrection by such slave, and unless
buch deaths should happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate
collection."

APPENDIX.

505

Extracts from VSth Div. of the Penal Code of Georgia.

'* [g 11.] Any person, except the owner, overseer, or employer of a
slave, who shall beat, whip, or wound such slave ; or any person who
shall beat, whip, or wound a free person of color, without sufficient cause
or provocation being first given by such slave or free person of color,
may be indicted for a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished
by line, or imprisonment in the common jail of the County, or both, at
the discretion of the court ; and the owner of such slave or guardian of
such free person of color, may, notwithstanding such conviction, recover,
in a civil suit, damages for the injury done to such slave or free person
of color."

" [g 12.] Any owner or employer of a slave or slaves, who shall cruelly
treat such slave or slav^, by unnecessary and excessive whipping, by
withholding proper food and sustenance, by requiring greater labor from
such slave or slaves than he, she, or they are able to perform, or by not
affording proper clothing, whereby the health of such slave or slaves may
be injured and impaired, or cause or permit the same to be done, every
such owner or employer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on con-
viction, shall be punished by fine or imprisonment in the common jail of
the County, or both, at the discretion of the court."

Extract from Act of May 10th, 1770.

"Punishment for making slaves labor on Sunday. — If any person shall
on the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, employ any slave in any
work or labor, (work of absolute necessity and the necessary occasions
of the family only excepted,) every person so offending shall forfeit and
pay the sum of ten shillings for every slave he, she, or they, shall so cause
to work or labor."

\ 1. The following table, which I take from the " Mortality Statistics"
compiled from the Seventh Census of the United States by the Superin-
tendent of the Census, and published by authority of the House of Rep-
resentatives, seems to show that the number of slaves who die of old age
in the United States is considerably greater than the number of free white
citizens.

By consulting it, and the population tables ; and taking the white popu-
lation of the Union at 19,553,068, and the slaves at 3,638,808 (which is
what those tables authorize), it will be found that of the whole number
of deaths from all causes, 1 in every 37-01 is a death from old age among
the white population, whilst, in the whole number of deaths, 1 in every
3249 is a death from old age among the slaves.

506 APPENDIX.

•sqjTsap o^SaaSSy

8 3

OOl-iOOOMN

i-H i-n CO

* I 3

8 5

oo •»* i-c cm ex

CO . O O i-i I-

i
s

pel

O O rH C! OC w is Ifl
OO OO OO t- CM CO l-
fr. rH l-i O

CM 00 CO >0

Total.

Mul.

Bl'k.

48,675
16,088

3,453

2,671
6,874
190
3,505
96

684
235
62
1,552
3,374
62
9,849

Mulatto.

m rH
r-T co-

rn CO CO .o o Cl

-T ©
rH l~

CO O

I rH t- C» CM

•S9IBK

CM CM

aTcf i-To*

eo ecf of >

i- CM t~ CM ; O t a |, X lO

uo — cm o co : oo cm r-^o^rH eo^
eo

CO w .

Q co *.

H g s §
biffs

■ „. 0> »

<- £ i« c« ? £

B o o o c o x>

_S 5 05 OS 03 CO TJ

RillSlllllfi

gj li&J s S S S

go 5 5(5555

•- I

PQi

« E *

coo

Ss<8

§ 2. For further information, see § 25 of App. C.

APPENDIX.

507

I 1 . The United States Census of 1 8-50 shows that the number of paupers
in the State of Georgia, at that time, was 954 — at a cost of $28,248.
The population, as shown by the Census, was then 905,999. Accordingly
there was only 1 pauper to every 949 of the inhabitants. The average
charge for maintenance being to each inhabitant a small fraction over 3
cents. If the slaves be excluded, the average charge to each tax payer
is a small fraction over 5 cents.

The text to which this note is annexed, shows that the number of
paupers in Great Britain, in 1849, was 201,044, and the cost £5,395,022,
or about $26,975,110. The population was then 20,936,468. Thus there
was 1 pauper for every 23 of the inhabitants ; and there was an annual
average charge upon each inhabitant for the maintenance of these
paupers, of $1-28.

\ 2. Extract from Cobb's Historical Sketch of Slavery, p. ccxiv.

" Slavery is a protection from pauperism, the bane for which the wisdom
of civilized man has not yet prepared an antidote. In America, afflic-
tion" (disease) "old age and idleness are the only sources of pauperism.
Where the laborers are slaves, the master is compelled by law to provide
against the former, and is authorized to proteet himself against the latter.
The poor-house, therefore, is almost unknown."

Statistical Table from the United States Census of 1840.

-2 i

& "3

lure

,tioj

-3

States.

2 4

.2
1

~ a.

c o

— —

c.S

■i *

o ^

* —

Pi
I

500,438

537

in 950

1,355

*94

in 14

New Hampshire...

284,036

486

" 584

538

" 28

729,030

1,071

" 662

8,669

200

291,218

398

" 731

730

" 56

301,856

498

" 606

8,159

" 185

105,587

203

« 520

3,243

» 249

2,378,890

2,116

" 1,108

50,031

194

" 257

351,588

369

'< 952

21,718

» 293

1,676,115

1,946

« 861

37,952

187

" 256

58,561

" 1,126

19,524

» 697

317,717

387

" 821

151,515

141

" 1,074

740,968

1,052

" 704

498,829

381

« 1,309

North Carolina....

484,870

580

" 835

268,549

221

» 1,215

South Carolina....

259,084

376

" 689

335,314

137

" 2,440

407,695

294

" 1,387

283.697

134

" 2,117

Ohio

1,502,022

1,195

" 1,257

17,345

165

" 105

590,253

795

« 742

189.575

180

" 1,053

158,457

« 2,873

193,954

" 4,310

508

APPENDIX.

During the year 1854 I met with the following compilation
of facts in one of the newspapers of the day. I do not now
remember from which it was that I clipped it, and am sorry
that I do not, as I would like to give it credit for the article.
A large proportion of the facts are taken from Stephens' His-
tory of Georgia, and as they are here put into a very compact
form, a perusal of this statement may save the reader the
necessity of turning to that work.

" History of the Slave Trade in North and South America.

Our attention has been attracted to the origin and subsequent progress
of the African slave trade upon this continent, by an article which ap-
peared some weeks ago in the New York Tribune. After reading that
article, we turned to Stephens' History of Georgia, which contains an
instructive chapter upon the same subject. From these two sources wo
compile the following interesting facts, and commend them to the reader,
both North and South, as worthy not only of perusal, but remembrance.

The European traffic in negroes was fully established before the colo-
nization of the United States, and had existed half a century before the
discovery of America. "As early as 1441, Portuguese ships sailed as
far South as Cape Blanco, in Africa, and returned with 5loors — not
negroes — and these Moors were treated as strangers of distinction, from
whom important information could be obtained. And in 1443, Anthony
Gonzales, who had brought them to Portugal, was commanded to restore
them to their native homes ; he did so, and the Moors gave him not only
gold, but 1 black Moors' with curled hair for their ransom. It was thus
that negro slaves were introduced into Europe ; and negroes immediately
became a lucrative traffic from the beginning, and ' abounded in the city
of Seville before the enterprise of Columbus was conceived.'"

The maritime adventurers of those days regarded the inhabitants of
the countries they might discover, if infidels, as their slaves ; and conse-
quently Indians from the West Indies and our Atlantic ports were im-
ported into Spain and sold. Even Columbus sent 500 Indians to Spain,
and ordered them to be sold at Seville.

The English traffic in American slaves began in 1563. Sir John
Hawkins, in the prosecution of a commercial enterprise, visited the coast
of Africa, and took thence a cargo of natives, whom he sold in Hayti. On
his return to England, a public complaint was lodged against him, but he
excused himself on the ground that he had 4 taken these natives from
heathenish barbarism, and placed them under the blessed influences of
Christianity.' The second voyage of Sir John, undertaken in 1567, was
under the protection of Queen Elizabeth, she sharing in the profits of
the advanture.

The first attempt to engage in the slave trade by the American colonists,
occurred in 1645, and was made by two Boston merchants, one of whom
was a member of the church. We commend this historical fact to the
abolitionists and disuuionists in New England. The trade being profit-

APPENDIX.

509

able, Boston was the first to engage in it ; slave labor becoming unprofit-
able, Massachusetts was the first to abandon it. At one time, white
persons — criminals and dissolute persons — were transported to the
American colonies and sold into slavery. Finally, it became a regular
business to seduce men and women to leave England, and to make slaves
of them on their arrival here. So usual was this traffic in Englishmen,
thai the Scots who were taken in the field of Dunbar were sent into in-
voluntary servitude in New England ; the royalist prisoners taken by
Cromwell at the battle of Worcester, the leaders of the insurrection of
Penruddock, were shipped to America as slaves. And, in 1685, 1000 of
the gallant partisans of the Duke of Monmouth were transported to
America, to supply hands to the colonial: freeholders. In 1688, persons
coming into the colonies, who were not Christians in their native country,
were subjected to slavery, even if converted to Christianity afterwards.

Slavery was introduced into Virginia in 1620; into New England in
1645; into Maryland in 1650; into South Carolina in 1671; and into
Georgia in 1749. Slaves were first taken to Pennsylvania by William
Penn, the founder of the State ; and Stephens tells us that, though he did
somewhat to meliorate their condition afterwards, 'he died a slave-
holder.' For sixteen years after the first settlement of Georgia, slaves
were not allowed by the Trustees of the colony ; and it was not until after
repeated applications from the most influential men in the province —
among others, the Rev. George Whitefield, the celebrated Divine — that
the prohibition was relaxed. Mr. Whitefield made a test of white and
slave labor, on a plantation which he bought in Carolina, the result of
which was to confirm him in the opinion, as he wrote the Trustees, ' that
Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province without negroes are
allowed.' Finally it was determined to admit slaves into Georgia, and
a Committee in the British Parliament, at the head of which was placed
the Earl of Shaftesbury, was appointed to prepare an act for that purpose.
This Earl of Shaftesbury was, we presume, the ancestor of the present
Earl of that name, who has made himself so conspicuous of late in his
attentions to Mrs. Stowe, and in his intermeddling with American slavery
which his progenitor introduced.

In March, 1713, a contract was made between Spain and other
powers, for furnishing slaves to the Spanish dominions in America. July,
1718, this contract was transferred to England by the treaty of Utrecht,
and thereby England obtained the privilege of filling the New World with
negro slaves. No Frenchman, nor Spaniard, nor any other person might
introduce a single slave into Spanish Amei'ica, and England had the ex-
clusive monopoly of the slave trade for the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic,
all along the Pacific, and the English Colonies. These monopolizing
privileges were enjoyed by a company — the Asciento Company — and
Philip V. of Spain, took one quarter of the stock ; Queen Anne reserved
one-fourth to herself, and the remaining half was divided among her
favorites — thus the sovereigns of England and Spain became the largest
slave merchants in the world. By the treaty assigning the contract, her
Britannic Majesty undertook • to bring into the AVest Indies of America,
belonging to his Catholic (Spanish) Majesty, in the space of thirty years,
144,000 negroes, at the rate of 4,800 each year.' These negroes cost
nothing but trinkets and toys and refuse arms, and England gained by
her total sale of slaves in America, under this contract, the capital which
built up and confirmed the British Empire in Hindostan.

A little more than one hundred years ago, the British were the greatest

43*

510

APPENDIX.

slave-traders in the world, and it was contended and promulgated in Eng-
land by British merchants, that the American slave trade was the great
pillar and support of the plantation trade in America ; that if the slave
trade should be thrown into the hands of her rivals, and the colonies de-
pend upon white labor, they would soon be undone, or shake off their
dependence on the British Crown, ' as white men cannot be obtained as
cheaply as we have obtained Africans. Even were it possible for white
men to answer the end of negroes in planting, we must drain our own
country of husbandmen, mechanics, and manufacturers ; thus we might
dread the prosperity of our colonies ; but while we supply them with
negroes, we need have no such apprehensions.'

It is estimated that over 300,000 negroes were imported from Africa to
the English American colonies previous to 1776. llaynal puts the whole
number taken by European nations from Africa before that year at
9,000,000. Bancroft 'thinks the number imported into the Spanish,
French, and English continental colonies, previous to the prohibition of
the slave trade, was about 3,000,000. The gross returns to the English
from the whole traffic in negro slaves is estimated at four hundred
millions of doliars !'

It is mentioned as a noteworthy fact, ' that at one time or another,
every Christian potentate and government has sanctioned the slave trade
between Africa and America, save only the Pope of Rome.' In 1787,
the civilized world was engaged in the traffic. It was a lawful trade in
Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden ; and in Eng-
land and Scotland great and good men were ranked among its active or
silent promoters. In this same year the convention for framing the Con-
stitution of the United States prohibited the African slave trade after
1808. The original proposition was to give Congress the power to abolish
the traffic from and after the year 1800. Yet, when Gen. Pinckuey, of South
Carolina, moved to strike out 1800, and insert 1808 as the period for abo-
lishing the slave trade, the motion prevailed by all the New England States
voting for it, with only four slaves States, Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania, voting against it.

Stephens says: 'Begun, as the trade was, by Sir John Hawkins in
1763, patronized by Queen Elizabeth, maintained by repeated acts of
Parliament, and openly countenanced by the Dutch in their municipal,
charter, and corporate societies, slavery was forced upon the American
colonies. In nearly every instance, the earliest legislation in each colony
was directed to putting down such a species of labor. Virginia early dis-
couraged it, and during her colonial existence, passed twenty-three acts
imposing duties on slaves imported into the colony, thus virtually prohi-
biting them ; and Madison truly said, that ' the British government con-
stantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to this traffic'
South Carolina soon passed a law prohibiting their further importation.
It was rejected by the King in council, who declared the trade ' benefi-
cial and necessary to the mother country.' Massachusetts, the first State
iu America which directly participated in the slave trade, imposed duties
upon negroes imported; but as late as 1774, when the assembly of Mas-
sachusetts passed an act to prevent the importation of negroes and others
as slaves, Governor Hutchinson refused his assent, and dissolved the
assembly; because to sanction it would have violated his instructions.
The royal orders to Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire, directed
him not to give his assent to or pass any law imposing duties ou negroes
imported into New Hampshire.

APPENDIX.

51 L

1 But what could the remonstrances of colonies, or the labor of indi-
vidual philanthropy accomplish, when kings and queens, and cabinets,
and cities, and parliaments, and associations, for two hundred years,
were the patrons and participants in this evil traffic?'

The facts here collected are sufficient to show that Old England and
New England acted a conspicuous part in the establishment of the slave
trade, and the introduction of slaves into the United States; and that
they never abandoned the trade or the labor of slaves until they ceased
to be profitable. Whatever they did for the negro, was prompted by
considerations of policy and not philanthropy — a fact which it seems to
us ought to close their mouths forever on the subject of slavery."

The following table, which has been compiled from the United States
Census of 1850, will serve to give an idea of what the price of labor is in
Georgia : —

Average monthly wages for a farm-
hand, with board, in ninety counties of
the State.

Average wages for a day -laborer,
with board, in ninety counties of the
State.

Average wages for a day-laborer,
without board, in eighty -nine coun-
ties.

Average day-wages for a carpenter,
without board, in eighty -eight coun-
ties.

Average weekly wages for a female
domestic, with board, in seventy-nine
counties.

. Average price, per week, of board
for laboring men in eighty-seven coun-
ties.

$ cts. m.
9 40

$ cts. m.
50 8

$ cts. m.
71 5

$ cts. m.
1 64 8

$ cts. m.
1 55 1

$ cts. m.
1 82 4

Extracts from Cobb's Historical Sketch of Slavery, pp. ccxii., ccxvii.

% 1. 4 ' The work to which this sketch is an introduction is intended
to exhibit the status of the slave in the United States; a repetition
here upon these points would be inappropriate. That their bondage
has been mild, is evidenced by their great and rapid increase. For about
333,000 slaves imported, there are now more than 4,000,000. Their

512

APPENDIX.

physical development is undoubtedly much superior to that of the negro
in his native country. Their longevity is remarkable. Their mental de-
velopment has advanced very considerably, still retaining, however, the
negro characteristics, except in the case of the mulattoes, where the
traits of the white parents are sometime developed. But above all, their
moral improvement is most evident. Though still inclined to supersti-
tion, they are frequently exemplary Christians, and generally inclined to
be religious. An avowed infidel is a rara avis among the negroes. The
statistics of the different churches in the slaveholding States show a
greater number of negroes converted and admitted into the church, than
all the conversions which have crowned the missionary efforts of the
world."

g 2. "As a social relation, negro slavery has its benefits and its evils.
That the slave, is incorpoi'ated into, and becomes a part of the family —
that a tie is thus formed between the master and slave almost unknown
to the relation of master and hireling — that in consequence even the
young spendthrift experiences a pang in sundering a relation he, has re-
cognized from his infancy — that the old and infirm are thus cared for,
and the young protected and reared, are indisputable facts. Interest
joins with affection in promoting this unity of feeling. To the negro it
insures food, fuel, and clothing, medical attendance, and in most cases
religious instruction. The young child is seldom removed from the
parent's protection ; and beyond doubt the institution prevents the sepa-
ration of families to an extent unknown among the laboring poor of the
world.* It provides him with a protector, whose interest and feeling
combine in demanding such protection

"In short, Southern slavery is a patriarchal social system. The
master is the head of his family. Next to wife and children, he cares
for his slaves. He avenges their injuries, protects their persons, pro-
vides for their wants, and guides their labors. In return, he is revered,
and held as a protector and master. Nine-tenths of the Southern masters
would be defended by their slaves, at the peril of their own lives."

* " On my father's plantation, an aged negro woman could call together
more than one hundred of her lineal descendants. I saw this* old negro
dance at the wedding of her great granddaughter. She did no labor for
my father for more than forty years before her death "

THE END.

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The slaveholder abroad; or, Billy Buck's visit, with his master, to England. A series of letters from Dr. Pleasant Jones [pseud.] to Major Joseph Jones, of Georgia"

See other formats